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THE    LITERATURE 


OF    THE 


FRENCH     RENAISSANCE 


Sontion:    C.   J.    CLAY   AND   SONS, 

CAMBRIDGE   UNIVERSITY    PRESS   WAREHOUSE, 
AVE   MARIA   LANE. 

(glasgoto:   50,  WELLINGTON   STREET. 


M 

i  i\ 

i.  i'  SS-, 

1l£i0>ig:    F.    A.    BROCKHAUS. 

#tfo  Jfork:    THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY. 

6ombag  anb  Calcutta:    MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Ltd. 


[All  Rights  reserved^ 


THE    LITERATURE 


OF   THE 


FRENCH    RENAISSANCE 


BY 

ARTHUR   TILLEY,    M.A. 

FELLOW   AND    LECTURER   OF   KING'S   COLLEGE,    CAMBRIDGE 


VOLUME    II 


CAMBRIDGE: 

AT   THE    UNIVERSITY    PRESS 

1904 


©ambritige 


PRINTED    BY   J.  AND   C.   F.  CLAY, 
AT   THE    UNIVERSITY    PRESS. 


College 
Library 


I9o4- 

CONTENTS 


CHAPTER   XVII 

THE    LESSER    STARS 
i.      Tyard,  Belleau,  Baif 

TyaRD  and  his  poetry 

His  sonnet  on  Sleep.     BELLEAU 

His  translation  of  "  Anacreon";  his  Bergerie;  Avril 

His  Pierres  precieuses;  UAmethyste 

J. -A.  de  Baif  ;  his  education     . 

His  Amours;  his  collected  works 

His  Mimes  .... 

His  experiments  in  metre 

Founds  the  Academic  depoesie  et  de  musique 

His  later  years  and  death 

2.     Magny,    Tahureau,  Louise  Lade,  /amy ft 


La  pierre  aqueuse 


Magny  ;  compared  to  A.  de  Musset  .... 

His  Amours  and  Gayetes   . 

His  Souspirs;  two  sonnets  quoted     ..... 
His  Odes     .......... 

Two  Odes  quoted 

His  general  characteristics.     TAHUREAU 

His  sonnets  ......... 

Stanzas  from  De  la  vanite  des  hommes        .... 

His  Dialogues.     The  literary  circle  of  Poitiers 

Louise  Labe 

Her  life  and  poems ;  three  sonnets  quoted 

Her  Dedal  de/olie  et  d'amour 

Inferior  poets  ;  La  Boetie 

One  of  his  sonnets  quoted.     Scevole  de  Sainte-Marthe 

His  sonnets  ;  his  Pacdotrophia  and  Elogia 

JamyN;  his  translations  of  Homer  ;  his  sonnets 

His  servility  towards  his  royal  patrons       .... 


PAGE 

I 
2 
3 

4 
5 
6 


9 
io 


ib. 
1 1 

12 

13 
14 

15 
16 

17 
18 

19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 


1 1 1 9869 


VI 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

3.      The  work  of  the  Pleiad 

The  poetical  creed  of  the  Pleiad 27 

Reforms  in  vocabulary 28 

Reforms  in  syntax  ;  theory  of  style 29 

Defects ;   the  substitution  of  literature  for  life ;    contempt  for  the 

multitude 30 

Lack  of  self-criticism 31 

Services  of  the  Pleiad  to  poetry.     Bibliography         ....  32 


CHAPTER   XVIII 


THE    SECOND   GENERATION 


Change  from  Greek  to  Latin  ideals    ..... 
Ronsard's  retirement  from  the  Court ;  new  developements 

1.      Du  Bartas 

Du  Bartas;  his  Judith  and  Uranie 

Publication  of  his  Semaines 

Decay  of  his  fame;  characteristics  of  his  work 

Specimens  of  his  style 

His  use  of  compound  epithets     . 

His  patriotism;  quotation 

P.  DE  Brach  and  his  poetry.     PiBRAC 

His  Quatrains;  specimens  quoted     . 

His  Les plaisirs  de  la  vie  rustique 

2.     Desportes 

DESPORTES;  his  sojourn  in  Italy 

His  Premieres  CEuvres  published;  his  success  at  Court 

His  latter  days;  his  hospitality  ;  his  plagiarisms 

His  Italian  models;  his  wit        ....... 

His  sonnet  to  Sleep;  his  songs ;  Rozette    ..... 

Another  song 

Stanzas  from  his  poem  on  country  life        ..... 
His  spiritual  sonnets  ;  his  debt  to  the  Diana  of  Montemor 
General  characteristics  of  his  poetry  ..... 

PASSERAT ;  his  work  as  a  Latin  scholar;  his  epitaph 

Merits  of  his  style;  his  villanelle 

His  ode  on  May-day 

DURANT;  his  poetry 

Rapin  ;  his  poetry 

Guy  DE  TOURS;  his  youthful  poetry;  one  of  his  sonnets  quoted 


34 

35 


36 
37 
38 
40 

41 
42 

43 
44 
45 


ib. 

46 

47 
48 

49 
5° 
5i 
52 
53 
54 
55 
56 
57 
58 
59 


CONTENTS  vii 

PAGE 

3.      Vauqueli?i  de  la  Fresnaye 

Jean  le  Houx  and  his  Vaux  de  Vire 60 

Specimen  quoted.     Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye   ....  61 

His  Foresteries;  his  public  career  ;  his  collected  poems    ...  62 

Character  of  his  poetry 63 

Specimens 64 

His  satires;  his  Art poetique      ........  65 

The  lyrics  of  Garnier  and  Montchrestien.     Decreasing  pro- 
duction  of  poetry   during    the  last   quarter   of  the   sixteenth 

century          ...........  67 

Bibliography .68 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE    RENAISSANCE   DRAMA 

Religious  mysteries  prohibited  ;  decline  of  mediaeval  comedy  .         .       70 
Influence  of  the  classical  drama  .......       71 

Performance  of  Ronsard's  translation  of  the  Plutus  of  Aristophanes       72 


1 .      Tragedy 

Performances  of  Jodelle's  Clcopatre lb. 

Analysis  of  Cleopdtre -73 

Character  of  Cleopatra;  versification.     Influence  of  Seneca     .         .  74 

Italian  tragedy    .         . 75 

Jodelle's  treatment  of  the  Chorus.     The  Medee  of  Bastier  DE  la 

Peruse.     Jodelle's  Didon 76 

His  later  work;  one  of  his  sonnets  quoted 77 

Grevin  ;  his  Cesar 78 

His  travels  and  death 79 

RlVAUDEAU's  A  man;  Scaliger's  Poetice 80 

Unity  of  time  and  place  in  Jodelle's  and  GreVin's  plays     .         .         .81 

Jean  de  la  Taille's  De  Vart  de  la  Tragedie 82 

His  life  and  writings 83 

One  of  his  songs  quoted 84 

His  Saiil  and  Les  Gabeonites.     JACQUES  DE  la  Taille   ...  85 

Beza's  Abraham  sacrifiant.     Des  Masures's  David       ...  86 

Irregular  tragedy ;  La  Soltane 87 

Philanire.     Lack  of  stage  experience         ......  88 


viii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Garnier;  his  Porcie 90 

Hippolyte;  Come  lie 91 

Marc-Antoine;  La  Troade;  Antigone 92 

Les  Juives 93 

Chorus  from  Les  Juives 94 

Montchrestien;  his  L Ecossaise 95 

His  other  plays 97 

Tragi-comedy ;  earliest  use  of  the  name 98 

Lucelle 99 

Garnier's  Bradamante .  101 


2.     Comedy 

Italian  comedy  ;  Ariosto     . 

Character  of  his  comedies 

The  Mandragola ;  Gli  Ingannati 

Jodelle's  Eugene 

Grevin's  Les  Esbahis 

Belleau's  La  Reconnue;  Jean  de  laTaille's  Les  Cor 

Baif's   translations;    performance   of  Le  Brave;    Italian  actors  at 

Paris 

Larivey  ;  general  character  of  his  comedies 

Les  Esprits  and  his  other  comedies   ..... 

O.  de  Turnebe's  Les  Contents 

Les  Neapolitaines  of  F.  d'Amboise;  Perrin's  Les  Escoliers 
Godard's  Les  Desguisez ;  Le  Loyer's  Le  muet  insettse 
Failure  of  Renaissance  drama ;  its  caus*es 


102 
103 
104 
105 
106 
107 

108 
109 
no 
11 1 
112 

US 
114 


3.     Pastoral  drama 

Dramatic  eclogues.  Pastoral  plays;  Filleul'S  Les  Ombres  .  .115 
Influence  of  the  Diana  and  of  Tasso's  Aminta.  N.  de  Montreux  i  16 
Other  pastoral  plays.     Bibliography 117 


CONTENTS 


PART  III    ( 1 580-1605) 

MONTAIGNE 


CHAPTER   XX 

THE    RETURN    TO    NATURE 

PAGE 

Condition  of  France  from  1580  to  1594 123 

Growth  of  French  prose.     Literature  becomes  more  serious  and 

more  national       .         . 124 

Pare  and  Palissy  ;  their  lack  of  classical  learning      .         .         .         .125 

Pare;  his  career  as  a  surgeon 126 

His  writings 127 

His  Apologie  et  voyages .         .128 

Palissy 129 

His  life  to  1563;  his  Recepte  veritable        .         .         .         .         .         .130 

His  style 131 

Specimens  of  his  style         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .132 

His  later  life  and  his  Discours  admirables  .         .         .         .  133 

Passage  from  De  Vart  de  terre .  134 

Bibliography 135 


CHAPTER    XXI 

MONTAIGNE 

Montaigne  a  favourite  with  Englishmen 

His  father,  Pierre  Eyquem ;  his  mother  a  Protestant;  his  manner 

of  education . 

At  the  College  of  Guyenne;  becomes  a  magistrate.     La  Boetie 
His  Contr'un       ........... 

His  influence   on   Montaigne ;    his   death.     Montaigne's   marriage. 

Death  of  his  father 

Translates    R.    de    Sebonde's    Theologia   naturalis;   publishes  La 

Boe'tie's  writings.     Resigns  his  magisterial  office 


136 

137 
138 
139 

140 
141 


His  chateau;  the  library 142 


CONTENTS 


His  books.     Greek  and  Latin  Sentences 

Life  in  retirement  from  1571  to  1580.      Publication  of  his  Essays 
His  travels  ........ 

Appointed  Mayor  of  Bordeaux.     Second  term  of  office 

Henry  of  Navarre's  visit  to  his  chateau.     The  plague 

Publication  of  his  Essays  with  the  Third  book 

Letters  to  Henry  IV.     Death     . 

Questions  raised  by  his  Essays 

Growth  of  his  Essays ;  First  book 

Second  book  ;  self-portraiture     . 

Envoi  and  preface      ..... 

Third  book;  its  bolder  character.     Quotations 

The  posthumous  edition  of  1595 

Additions  to  the  Essays.     Montaigne's  design 

His  portrait 

Comparison  with  his  character  as  presented  in  his  Journal 

Character  of  his  self-revelations.     His  debt  to  Seneca  and  Plutarch 

Their  influence  on  him 

His  philosophy  of  life 

Distinction  between  his  theories  and  his  practice 

His  views  on  education 

His  religion 

His  scepticism    ..... 
The  Apologie  de  Raymond  de  Sebonde 
Character  of  his  scepticism 
His  style;  its  impressionism 
His  method;  Essay  On  Coaches 
Imaginative  character  of  his  style 
Examples  of  his  style 
Bibliography        ..... 


PAGE 

M3 
144 

145 
146 

147 
148 
149 
150 

151 
152 
153 
154 


53 


157 
158 

159 
160 
161 
162 

163 
164 
165 
166 
167 
169 
171 
172 
174 
175 
176 


CHAPTER    XXII 

THE  FOLLOWERS  OF  RABELAIS 

Rabelais's  imitators .180 

Yver  and  his  Printemps .181 

Tabourot 183 

Du  Fail;  his  Propos  rustiques 184 

His  Baliverneries  and  Contes  et  discours  d'Eutrapc/         .         .         .185 
Cholieres 186 

BOUCHET 187 

Beroalde  de  Verville 188 

Bibliography        .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .189 


CONTENTS 


XI 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

MEMOIRS    AND    LETTERS 

i.     Brantome,  Margaret  of  Valois,  Henry  IV,  Monluc, 
La  None 


BRANTOJME  compared  with  Montaigne 

His  career 

His  character;  his  writings 

Character  of  his  biographies 

His  digressions;  his  style 

His  view  of  the  society  of  his  day 

Margaret  of  Valois  ;  her  memoirs  and  letters 

Henry  IV;  his  letters 

Letter  to  la  belle  Corisande 

Letters  to  Crillon  and  others 

La  Noue  ;  his  Discours  politiques  et 

Specimens  of  his  style 

Its  character        .... 

Moni.uc  ;  his  character      . 

His   military   career;    his    defence   of    Siena 

Comnlentaires       ....... 

His  wound  ;  another  passage  from  his  Cointnentaires 
His  retirement  and  death  ;  his  style 


militaires 


passage 


from    his 


2.    UEstoile,    Tava tines,  Sully 

Memoirs  of  the  period         ......... 

P.  de  L'Estoile  ;  his  Memoires-Journaux 

JEAN  DE  TAVANNES;  compared  with  Saint-Simon    . 
VIEILLEVILLE ;  his  memoirs  more  or  less  fictitious  .... 

Choisnin.   Boyvin  du  Villars.  Rabutin.   Salignac.  Coligny 

Castelnau.     Mergy.     Mme.  du  Plessis-Mornay 

Sully;  the  form  of  his  memoirs        ....... 

An  excellent  story-teller;  his  character      ...... 

Publication  of  his  memoirs  ........ 

Bibliography        .         .         . 


PAGE 

190 

191 
192 

193 
194 
194 

195 
196 

197 
199 
200 
201 
202 
203 

204 
205 
206 


207 
208 
209 
210 
21 1 
212 
213 
214 
215 
216 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

HISTORY    AND    POLITICAL    SCIENCE 


Memoirs  and  contemporary  history   . 
Histories  of  La  Place  and  La  Planche 
Palma  Cayet.     La  Popeliniere    . 


218 

219 
220 


Xll 


CONTENTS 


J.-A.  DETHOU;  his  Historiae  sui  temporis 

His  choice  of  Latin  a  mistake     .  

Du  HAILLAN'S  history  of  France.     Beginnings  of  scientific  history 
BODIN;  his  Methodus;  his  Six  livres  de  la  Republique    . 

General  estimate  of ;  special  features 

Bodin's  preference  for  hereditary  monarchy       . 

His  advocacy  of  religious  toleration  ;  his  Colloquium  Heptaplomeres 

Bibliography 


PAGE 

221 

222 

223 

224 

225 

226 

227 
id. 


CHAPTER   XXV 

THE    SATIRE    MENIPP^E 


Minor  pamphlets  of  the  wars  of  religion  ;  Le  Tigre 
Le  Livre  des  Marchands.     The  Discours  merveilleux 
The  Franco-Gallia  and  the  Vindiciae  contra  tyrannos 
The  League   and  the  legitimists;   Dorleans  and  Belloy.     The  two 
Discours    of    HURAULT     DU    Fay  ;    the    Anti-Espagnol    of 

ARNAUD       

The  Politiques ;  Gillot  and  his  friends        .... 

Le  Roy;  Chrestien ;  P.  Pithou 

The  genesis  of  the  Satire  Menippee;  its  contents 
Character  of  the  Satire;  the  speeches         .... 
Speech  of  Mayenne,  the  Cardinal  Legate,  and  others 

Speech  of  D'Aubray 

Passages  quoted 

General  character  of  the  speech.     Verses 
Sainte-Aldegonde's  Tableau  des  differens  de  la  religion 
Bibliography        ......... 


229 
230 
231 


233 
234 
235 
236 
237 
238 

239 
240 
241 

242 


CHAPTER   XXVI 

D'AUBIGNE 

Satirical  character  of  Les  Tragiques.     D'Aubigne's  versatility 

His  life;  scene  at  Amboise 

His  military  career  in  the  service  of  Henry  of  Navarre;  his  retire- 
ment to  Maillezais        .... 
His  last  years  at  Geneva  ;  his  publications 
His  character.     His  Histoire  Universelle 
Its  plan  and  character         .... 
Dramatic  scenes;  portraits 
Political  summaries.     The  Confession  de  Sancy 


244 

245 

246 

247 
248 

249 
250 
251 


CONTENTS 


Xlll 


PAGE 

Les  aventures  de  Fceneste   .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .252 

D'Aubigne"'s  stories;  his  letters 253 

His  prose  style    ...........  254 

Specimen  passages      ..........  255 

His  youthful  poetry  {Printemps)          .......  256 

Its  character        .'.........  257 

His  epic  La  Creation;  Les  Tragiques 258 

Its  lack  of  composition 259 

Passages  from  the  Second  book  {Les  Princes)    .....  260 

Single  lines  and  couplets 261 

Bibliography 262 


forerunner    of 


CHAPTER    XXVII 

THE    YEARS    OF    TRANSITION 

The  restoration  of  order 

Characteristics  of  the  period  of  transition:  (1)  repose,  (2)  serious- 
ness, (3)  decline  of  imagination.     Bertaut 

His  official  poems 

His  volume  of  love-poetry  .... 

Passage  from  the  first  elegy        .... 

His    volume    of    graver    poetry;    its    character; 
Malherbe 

Influence  of  Tasso.     Du  Perron     . 

His  prose.     Du  Plessis-Mornay     . 

His  De  la  verite  de  la  religion  chrestienne 

Charron's  Les  trois  verites;  his  appearance  and  character 

Publication  of  La  Sagesse;  his  death 

Plagiarisms  of  La  Sagesse;  analysis  of  its  contents 

Second  book       ....... 

Third  book 

Purpose  of  the  book;  its  popularity    . 

Du  VAIR;  his  position  as  a  writer;  his  political  action 

His  treatises;  De  la  Constance  es  catamites publiques 

His  De  V "eloquence  francoise        ..... 

Chief  forensic  speakers  of  his  day       .... 

Pulpit  oratory       . 

Political  oratory;  Du  Vair  as  a  speaker  ;  his  career  from  1596 

His  style;  specimen  passage       .... 

OSSAT  and  JEANNIN.      O.  DE  SERRES 
His  Theatre  d' Agriculture ;  its  character  . 

Specimen  of  his  style 

Bibliography 


First  book 


264 

265 
266 
267 


269 
270 
271 
272 

273 
274 
275 
276 
277 
278 
279 
280 
281 
282 
283 
284 
285 
286 
287 


=89 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    XXVIII 

REGNIER 

Regnier  belongs  to  the  Renaissance  .... 

His  life 

The  beginnings  of  Satire  in  France  ;  Satire  in  Italy 
Ariosto.     Burlesque    ........ 

Satirical  poems  of  Du  Bellay  and  Ronsard 

Of  Jean  de  la  Taille.     Satires  of  Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye 

Regnier's  first  attempts 

Satires  III-VI 

Satires  Vli-ix.     First  edition  of  his  Satires 
Satires  X  and  XI ;  imitations  of  Berni  and  Caporali 

Satire  XIII  {Macette) ;  sources 

Character  of  Macette 

The  religious  revival.     Regnier's  last  satires 

Regnier  as  an  observer  of  life  ;  his  lack  of  constructive  power 

Individuality  of  his  style     ....... 

Examples    .......... 

Regnier  and  Malherbe        ....... 

Note  on  the  date  of  Regnier's  earliest  satire 
Bibliography 


PAGE 

291 
292 

293 
294 
295 
296 
297 
298 
299 
300 
301 
302 
303 
303 
304 

305 
306 

307 
308 


CHAPTER   XXIX 

CONCLUSION 

Contrast  between  the  first  and  the  second  period 

Renaissance  and  Reform 

Third  period;  reaction  against  Italian  influence 

Attitude  of  Montaigne  towards  the  Renaissance;  the  developement 

of  individualism  and  free  inquiry         ..... 

Characteristics  of  Renaissance  literature  ;  individualism  . 
Vividness;  imagination       ........ 

Weakness  in  artistic  conception  and  execution 

Absence  of  a  central  standard  ;  provincial  centres  ;  Bordeaux 

Poitiers  ;  Rouen  ;  Eastern  France 

The  growth  of  French  prose ;   Rabelais  and  Calvin ;  disappearance 

of  archaisms  from  the  language  ..... 

Amyot.      Montaigne    ......... 

French  prose  becomes  more  orderly  and  logical.     Literatures  of  the 

English  and  the  French  Renaissance  compared 
The  French  Renaissance  excels  in  memoirs,  conies,  and  satire;  re 

semblance  between  the  two  literatures         .... 


310 

3H 
312 

313 
315 
3i6 

317 
3i8 

319 

320 
321 


323 


CONTENTS  XV 

PAGE 

The  qualities  of  the  French  race;  the  influence  of  the  environment 

and  the  "  moment " 324 

Influence  of  humanism.     Renaissance  literature  unclassical  in  form  325 

This  due  to  the  lack  of  the  critical  spirit 326 


Appendix  E.     The  authorship  of  the  Discours  merveilleux    .         .  327 

„  F.     The  genesis  of  the  Satire  Mctiippee 

1.  Bibliography   of   the   more    important    early 

editions 329 

2.  The  primitive  text    ......  330 

„          G.     On  some  biographical  and  bibliographical  works     .  332 

„          H.     Chronological  table 336 


CORRIGENDA 


p.  68,  1.  24.  For  1549  read  1594. 
p.  189,  1.  5.  For  1513  read  1583. 
p.  217,  1.  12.     For  1738  read  1638. 


CHAPTER    XVII 

THE    LESSER    STARS 

I.      Tyard,  Belle  ate,  Ba'if. 

Of  the  remaining  members  of  the  Pleiad,  Jodelle  is  chiefly 
known  by  his  dramatic  work  and  must  therefore  be  reserved 
for  a  later  chapter,  while  Dorat  wrote  little  French  poetry 
and  that  of  no  importance.  Pontus  de  Tyard  was  a  poet 
only  in  his  younger  days1.  He  was  a  man  of  property  and 
exercised  much  hospitality  at  his  chateau  of  Bissy  in  the 
Maconnais.  In  1 578  he  was  made  bishop  of  Chalons-sur-Saone. 
He  lived  till  the  very  end  of  our  period,  dying  in  1605,  the 
year  in  which  Malherbe  came  to  Paris.  His  first  volume  of 
poetry,  composed  chiefly  of  sonnets,  entitled  Erreurs  amou- 
reuses,  appeared  at  the  close  of  15492.  Like  Du  Bellay's  Olive, 
which  had  appeared,  as  we  have  seen,  earlier  in  the  year,  it 
shews  strong  marks  of  the  combined  influence  of  Petrarchism 
and  the  doctrine  of  spiritual  love,  and  thus  furnishes  additional 
evidence  of  how  closely  at  first  the  Pleiad  trod  in  the  footsteps 
of  the  school  of  Lyons.  As  in  the  case  of  Sceve,  Tyard's 
favourite  models  were  the  Italians  who  flourished  at  the  close 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  especially  Cariteo  and  Tebaldeo, 
whose  sugared  conceits  he  delights  in  reproducing.  Two 
years  later  (1 55 1 )  he  shewed  his  interest  in  the  subject  of 
spiritual  love  by  translating  the  Dialoghi  di  amove  of  Leo 
Hebraeus3  and  in  the  same  year  he  published  Continuation 

1  1521-1605.     See  Pasquier,  Recherches,  VII.  c.  x. ;  Jeandet,  Pontus  de  Tyard. 

2  The   printing   was   finished   November   5  ;    the   date    of    the    privilege    is 
September  13,   1549. 

;i  It  appeared  without  his  name,  but  with  his  device;  see  ante,  I.  137 — 8. 

T.  II.  I 


2  THE   LESSER   STARS  [CH. 

des  Erreurs  atnotireuses.  A  third  book  of  Erreurs  and  a 
volume  entitled  Livre  de  vers  lyriques,  both  of  which  appeared 
in  1555,  shew  more  traces  of  the  influence  of  Ronsard,  but 
throughout  his  short  poetical  career  Tyard  remained  more  or 
less  independent  of  the  chief  of  the  Pleiad1.  His  work  is 
unoriginal,  correct  and  dull,  but  one  sonnet,  which  first 
appeared  in  the  collected  edition  of  his  poems  published  in 
1573,  is  worth  quoting  : 

Pere  du  doux  repos,  Sommeil,  pere  du  Songe, 
Maintenant  que  la  nuict,  d'une  grande  ombre  obscure, 
Faict  a  cest  air  serain  humide  couverture, 
Viens,  Sommeil  desire,  et  dans  mes  yeux  te  plonge. 

Ton  absence,  Sommeil,  languissamment  allonge 
Et  me  fait  plus  sentir  la  peine  que  j'endure. 
Viens,  Sommeil,  l'assoupir  et  la  rendre  moins  dure, 
Viens  abuser  mon  mal  de  quelque  doux  mensonge. 

Ja  le  muet  Silence  un  esquadron  conduit 
De  fantosmes  ballans  dessous  l'aveugle  nuict  ; 
Tu  me  dedaignes  seul,  qui  te  suis  tant  devot ! 

Viens,  Sommeil  desire",  m'environner  la  teste, 
Car,  d'un  vceu  non  menteur,  un  bouquet  je  t'appreste 
De  ta  chere  morelle  et  de  ton  cher  pavot2. 

It  may  be  added  that  Tyard,  true  to  his  strong  Italian 
proclivities,  not  only  used  terza  rima  but  was  the  first  to 
introduce  the  sesiina  into  France.  There  are  two  examples 
of  it  in  his  Erreurs  amoureuses3. 

There  remain  Remy  Belleau  and  Jean-Antoine  de  Baifr- . 
of  whom  Belleau  is  decidedly  the  better  poet.  With  little 
originality  or  vigour  he  reaches  by  dint  of  careful  obser- 
vation, patient  workmanship,  good  taste,  and  sincerity  a  high 
level  of  execution.  He  had  a  genuine  love  of  country  life 
and  simple  country  ways,  and  his  eclogues  shew  more  of  the 
spirit  of  Virgil  than  those  of  any  other  writer  of  his  school. 
Of  all  the  members  of  the  Pleiad  he  was  Ronsard's  closest 
friend    and    most    constant   companion.     Born,   according   to 

1  See  F.  Flamini,  in  Rev.  de  la  Ken.  1.  43  fF. 

2  CEuvres,    ed.    Marty- Laveaux,    p.    166;    Saintsbury,    Specimens   of  French 
I  iterature,  p.  68. 

s  L.  E.  Kastner,  History  of  French  Versification,  p.  284,  prints  three  strophes 
and  the  envoi  of  a  sestina. 


XVII]  THE   LESSER   STARS  3 

Colletet,  in  1526  or  1 5271,  he  made  his  debut  in  1556  with  the 
translation  of  "  Anacreon "  to  which  reference  has  already 
been  made.  His  renderings  are  neat  and  graceful  enough, 
but  Ronsard  hit  the  mark  when,  punning  on  his  name,  he 
said  he  was  too  sober  to  translate  Anacreon2.  In  the  same 
year  he  became  attached  to  the  household  of  Rene  de  Lorraine, 
Marquis  d'Elbeuf,  a  younger  brother  of  the  Due  de  Guise, 
and  accompanied  him  on  the  ill-starred  expedition  to  Naples 
in  1557.  Some  six  years  later  he  became  tutor  to  his  son 
and  took  up  his  residence  at  the  chateau  of  Joinville.  His 
principal  works  are  a  comedy,  of  which  hereafter,  a  Bergerie, 
and  Amours  et  nonveaux  echauges  de  pierres  precieuses.  The 
Bergerie  is  divided  into  a  premiere  and  seconde  journee,  the 
first  'day'  being  published  separately  in  1565  and  the  complete 
work  in  1572.  It  consists  of  various  poems,  more  or  less 
relating  to  country  life,  strung  together  on  a  loose  thread  of 
prose  after  the  fashion  of  Sannazaro's  Arcadia.  Among  the 
more  noteworthy  are  a  Chant  pastoral  on  the  death  of  Joachim 
du  Bellay3,  an  Epithalame  for  Charles  de  Lorraine  and  Claude, 
daughter  of  Henry  II4,  and  a  song  beginning  Douce  et  belle 
bouc/ielette5.     But  the  best  and  the  best  known  is  Avril6 : 

Avril,  l'honneur  et  des  bois 

Et  des  mois, 
Avril,  la  douce  esperance 
Des  fruits  qui  sous  le  coton 

Du  bouton 
Nourrissent  leur  jeune  enfance  ; 
Avril,  l'honneur  des  prez  verds, 

Jaunes,  pers, 
Qui  d'une  humeur  bigarree 
Emaillent  de  mille  fleurs 

De  couleurs 
Leur  parure  diaprde. 

1  Colletet,  whose  Life  is  prefixed  to  Gouverneur's  edition,  says  that  he  died 
March  7,  1577,  aged  fifty.     The  day  of  the  month  is  wrongly  given  (see  post). 

2  Tu  es  un  trop  sec  hiberon 

Pour  un  tourneur  d'Anacreon.     Odes,  II.  xxii. 

3  CEuvres,  ed.  Marty-Laveaux,  I.  293  (first  published  separately  in  1560). 

4  ib.  238.  5  id.  279. 

6  id.  201;  translated  by  A.  Lang,  Ballads  and  Lyrics  of  Old  France,  p.  19. 


4  THE   LESSER    STARS  [CH. 

There  is  nothing  highly  original  in  this  poem,  written  as 
it  was  after  Ronsard's  Bel  aabespin  florissant,  but  it  is  exceed- 
ingly graceful  and  throughout  the  whole  thirteen  stanzas  there 
is  not  a  flaw  in  the  workmanship.  For  such  originality  as 
Belleau  possessed  we  must  look  to  his  Pier  res  precieuses  or 
metamorphoses1.  Here  his  talent  for  portraying  the  physical 
aspect  of  things,  which  is  comparable  to  that  of  Theophile 
Gautier,  shews  to  advantage.  The  best  of  the  purely  narrative 
pieces  is  UAiuet.li.ystp.,  which  contains  the  following  elaborate 
and  glowing  description  of  the  car  of  Dionysus  : 

D'un  pied  prompt  et  leger  ces  folles  Bassarides 
Environnent  le  char  ;    l'une  se  pend  aux  brides 
Des  onces  mouchetez  d'estoiles  sur  le  dos, 
Onces  a  l'ceil  subtil,  au  pied  souple  et  dispos, 
Au  mufie  herisse  de  deux  longues  moustaches  ; 
L'autre  met  dextrement  les  tigres  aux  attaches 
Tisonnez  sur  la  peau,  les  couple  deux  a  deux  : 
lis  ronflent  de  colere  et  vont  rouillant  les  yeux. 
Un  fin  drap  d'or  frise,  seme"  de  pedes  fines, 
Les  couvre  jusqu'au  flanc,  les  houpes  a  crespines 
Flottent  sur  le  genou  :   plus  humbles  devenus, 
On  agence  leur  queue  en  tortillons  menus. 
D'or  fin  est  le  branquar,  d'or  la  jante  et  la  roue 
Et  d'yvoire  indien  est  la  pouppe  et  la  proue  : 
L'une  soustient  le  char,  l'autre  dans  le  moyeu 
Des  rouleaux  accouplez  met  les  bouts  de  l'essieu, 
Puis  tirant  la  surpente  allegrement  habile, 
Arreste  les  anneaux  d'une  longue  cheville 
Dans  les  trous  du  branquar  :    le  dessus  est  couvert 
De  liene  menu  et  de  ce  pampre  verd 
Ou  pendent  a  l'envy  les  grappes  empourpre'es 
Sous  les  tapis  rameux  des  fueillades  pampre'es2. 

La  Perle*  is  a  fairly  good  lyric,  though  more  descriptive 
than  lyrical,  but  the  gem  of  the  whole  series  is  the  lyrical 
romance  entitled  La  pierre  aqueuse  or  Aquamarine — which 
begins  as  follows  : 

C'estoit  une  belle  brune 
Filant  au  clair  de  la  lune, 

1  Les  amours  et  nouveaux  eschanges  de  pierres  precieuses :  vertus  et  frcprictez 
d'icelles,  1576. 

2  CEuvres,  11.  171.  3  ib.  186. 


XVII]  THE    LESSER   STARS  5 

Qui  laissa  choir  son  fuzeau 

Sur  le  bord  d'une  fontaine  : 

Mais  courant  apres  sa  laine 

Plonge  la  teste  dans  l'eau, 

Et  se  noya  la  pauvrette  : 

Car  a  sa  voix  trop  foiblette 

Nul  son  desastre  sentit, 

Puis  assez  loin  ses  compagnes 

Parmi  les  verdes  campagnes 

Gardoyent  leur  troupeau  petit. 

Ha  !    trop  cruelle  adventure  ! 

Ha  !    mort  trop  fiere  et  trop  dure  ! 

Et  trop  cruel  le  flambeau, 

Sacre"  pour  son  hymenee, 

Qui  l'attendant  l'a  menee, 

Au  lieu  du  lit,  au  tombeau1. 

The  year  after  the  publication  of  Les  pierres  precieuses, 
Belleau  died,  and  Ronsard  wrote  for  him  the  shortest  and 
best  of  his  epitaphs  : 

Ne  taillez,  mains  industrieuses, 
Des  pierres  pour  couvrir  Belleau  : 
Luy-mesme  a  basty  son  tombeau 
Dedans  ses  pierres  precieuses2. 

Jean-Antoine  de  Baif  was,  as  we  have  seen,  the  member 
of  the  Pleiad  whose  association  with  Ronsard  was  of  longest 
date.  The  son  of  a  man  who  was  not  only  in  high  place 
but  was  of  considerable  distinction  as  a  humanist,  he  had 
from  his  tenderest  years  the  most  distinguished  scholars  in 
France  for  his  tutors,  Charles  Estienne,  Jacques  Toussain  and 
Jean  Dorat3.  His  father  died  in  1547  leaving  him  a  house 
in  Paris  and  a  small  property  in  Anjou.  He  was  only  twenty 
when  he  published  a  narrative  poem,  imitated  from  Moschus, 

1  CEuvres,  II.  248. 

2  Ronsard,  CEuvres,  VII.  247.     Belleau  was  buried  on  the  6th  of  March,  1577, 
so  that  Colletet  is  wrong  in  giving  March  7  as  the  day  of  his  death. 

3  He  was  born  at  Venice  in  February  1532  : 

Oust  (Aout)  dans  Paris  vit  le  carnage  (the  massacre  of  St  Bartholomew)  ; 

Le  fevrier  davant,  mon  dge 

Van  quarantieme  accomplissoit. 
For  an  account  of  his  early  life  see  the  poem  Au  roy,  which  was  prefixed  to  the 
collected  edition  of  his  poems  published  in  1572-3.     He  died  in  1589. 


6  THE   LESSER   STARS  [CH. 

entitled  Le  ravissement  cT  Europe  (1552)1,  and  it  is  doubtful 
whether  he  ever  wrote  anything  better.  It  has  the  merit  of 
grace  and  elegance  and  a  lively  fancy,  and  to  these  qualities 
Bai'f  added  little  in  later  life.     At  the  close  of  the  same  year 


he  published  another  small  volume  entitled  A  mouzs,  addressed 
to  a  fictitious  lady  under  the  name  of  Meline2.  It  is  noteworthy 
that  little  more  than  half  the  pieces  are  sonnets — in  the  second 
part  there  are  only  two — and  that  these  are  much  inferior  to 
the  other  poems,  which  are  chiefly  odes  of  a  light  character. 

The  odes  are  at  any  rate  natural,  being  alike  in  form  and 
matter  far  better  suited  than  the  Petrarchian  sonnet  to  Ba'rf's 
temperament.  For  he  was  neither  a  man  of  strong  emotions 
nor  a  conscientious  artist.  Unfortunately  in  his  next  attempt, 
having  meanwhile  found  a  real  mistress3  who  treated  him 
with  the  orthodox  Petrarchian  cruelty,  he  reverted  to  the 
sonnet-form  with  increased  energy,  and  the  new  volume, 
entitled  Amours  de  Francine,  and  divided  into  four  books, 
serves  to  shew  that  a  real  mistress  can  inspire  just  as  cold 
and  artificial  poetry  as  a  fictitious  one.  In  the  two  latter 
books  there  are  no  sonnets,  and  one  of  the  best  pieces  Apres 
les  vents  is  written  in  terza  rima,  but  it  is  characteristic  of 
Bai'f,  who  was  nothing  if  not  an  improvisatore ,  that  the  execu- 
tion falls  off  considerably  towards  the  close  of  the  poem4.  In 
1 572—3  he  published  a  collected  edition  of  his  works  in  four 
volumes.  The  fourth,  entitled  Les  passetemps,  contains  his 
most  celebrated  poem  Du_printeinps5,  which  is  often  compared 
with  Belleau's^^r/7.  But  the  execution  is  more  commonplace 
and  by  no  means  so  uniformly  careful.  If  we  compare  the 
poem  with  Meleager's  original,  we  see  how  Bai'f  shirks  the 
little  details  and  delicate  touches  of  the  Greek  artist.  The 
best  stanza  is  the  last : 

1  CEuvres,  ed.  Marty-Laveaux,  II.  421  ;  Poesies  choisies,  ed.  Becq  de  Fouquieres, 
p.  78. 

2  Les  amours  de  Jan   Anloine  de  Baif,   1^52  ;    the  printing  was  finished  on 
December  10. 

3  She  was  sister  to  the  lady  whom  Jacques  Tahureau  celebrated  under  the  name 
of  FAdmiree. 

*  CEuvres,  II.  97;  Poisies  choisies,  p.  152. 
5   CEuvres,  IV.  210;  Poesies  choisies,  p.  233. 


XVII]  THE   LESSER   STARS  7 

Et  si  le  chanter  m'agre'e, 
N'est-ce  pas  avec  raison, 
Puisqu'ainsi  tout  se  recree 
Avec  la  gaye  saison. 

But  if  Bai'f  was  an  indifferent  poet,  he  was  a  man  of  an 
active  and  enterprising  mind  who  delighted  to  experiment 
in  various  directions.  He  translated  the  Antigone  of  Sophocles 
and  the  Eunuchus  of  Terence  and  adapted  the  Miles  Gloriosus 
of  Plautus  to  French  readers.  But  his  most  popular  and  at 
the  same  time  his  most  original  work  is  Mimes,  enseignements 
et proverbes,  of  which  two  books  were  published  in  his  lifetime 
and  two  after  his  death1.  The  term  mimes  was  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  chief  source  of  the  work  was  the  Sententiae  of 
Publilius  Syrus,  a  mime-writer  of  the  first  century  B.C.,  whose 
mimes  or  farces  contained  numerous  wise  and  moral  sayings, 
which  were  collected  in  the  first  century  of  our  era  and  largely 
added  to  during  the  middle  ages.  They  were  edited  by  Henri 
Estienne,  and  were  frequently  translated  into  French  in  the 
course  of  the  sixteenth  century2.  Besides  this  source  Bai'f 
drew  from  Theognis  and  Phocylides,  and  from  two  modern 
collections  of  sayings,  the  Adages  of  Jean  le  Bon  and  a  collec- 
tion of  Italian  proverbs  with  French  equivalents  which  was 
published  in  1548.  Thus  his  Mimes  consist  of  a  variety  of 
satirical  and  moral  reflexions,  with  the  occasional  introduction 
of  a  short  fable,  strung  together  with  little  or  no  attempt  at 
unity  and  written  in  a  jerky  octosyllabic  metre.  The  one 
addressed  to  Villeroy  may  serve  as  a  specimen.  The  opening 
lines  give  an  account  of  the  writer's  various  literary  per- 
formances : 

Quand  je  pense  au  divers  ouvrage 
Ou  j'ai  badine  tout  mon  age, 
Tantost  epigrammatisant, 
Tantost  sonnant  la  tragedie, 
Puis  me  gossant  en  comedie, 
Puis  des  amours  petrarquisant3. 

1  Book  I  was  published  in  1576,  I  and  II  together  in  1581  and  the  whole  four 
books  in  1597. 

2  P.  Syrus  is  often  quoted  by  Montaigne,  once  by  name. 

3  CEuvres,  V.  41;  Poesies  choisies,  p.  2X7. 


8  THE   LESSER   STARS  [CH. 

There  is  more  unity  about  the  last  mime  of  the  fourth 
book,  in  which  Bai'f,  writing  as  a  catholic  and  a  loyalist, 
advocates  as  Ronsard  had  done  in  his  earliest  discours  a 
reform  of  the  church  from  within.  As  poetry  the  mimes 
are  hardly  superior  to  Marot's  coq  a  Vanes,  on  which  Du 
Bellay  poured  such  contempt,  but  the  style  is  well-suited 
to  Bai'f's  facile  and  slipshod  method  of  production.  Another 
novelty  was  a  didactic  poem  on  Meteorology,  imitated  from 
Aratus,  Virgil  and  Manilius,  but  only  one  book  appeared1. 

Bai'f's  other  experiments  were  in  the  direction  of  language 
and  metre.  In  1574  he  published  a  volume  entitled  Etrenes 
de  poezie  fransoeze  en  vers  mezitres2,  in  which  he  not  only 
adhered  with  a  few  modifications  to  the  system  of  spelling 
advocated  by  Ramus,  but  gave  specimens  of  poems  written 
in  classical  metres.  It  is  obvious  that  such  an  attempt  is  far 
more  difficult  in  French  than  in  English,  and  that  at  any  rate 
Bai'f  was  not  the  man  to  accomplish  so  great  a  revolution. 
Although  some  other  poets,  Marc-Claude  de  Buttet,D'Aubigne, 
Passerat,  and  especially  Rapin,  made  similar  experiments,  the 
attempt  to  introduce  '  measured '  verse  met  with  little  favour3. 
Bai'f  however  persevered  for  a  time  in  his  task,  and  among 
the  poems  unpublished  at  his  death  were  a  translation  of  the 
Psalms  (completed  in  1573)  and  three  books  of  Chansonnettes 
in  vers  mesures*.  In  spite  of  his  failure  it  is  possible  that  if  a 
stronger  poet,  Ronsard  for  instance,  had  gone  to  work  on 
somewhat  different  lines  there  might  have  been  introduced 
into  French  poetry  at  this  critical  stage  of  its  developement  a 

1  Le  premier  des  meteor es,  1567;   CEuvres,  II.  1;  Poesies  c/ioisies,  pp.  7  ff. 

2  i.e.  verse  scanned  according  to  quantity. 

3  See  for  these  attempts  Pasquier,  Recherches,  VII.  c.  xi;  D'Aubigne,  CEuvres, 
I.  453 ;  Darmesteter  and  Hatzfeld,  pp.  1 13  ff. ;  Kastner,  op.  cit.  295  ff.  (an  excellent 
account).  About  the  year  1562  Jacques  de  la  Taille  wrote  a  treatise  entitled 
La  maniere  defaire  des  vers  en  francois  comme  en  grec  el  en  latin,  but  it  was  not 
published  till  after  his  death  in  1573. 

4  He  also  introduced  a  line  of  fifteen  syllables,  scanned  in  the  ordinary  way, 
which  he  called  vers  baifin : 

Je  veux  donner  aux  Francois  un  vers  de  phis  libre  accordance 
Pour  le  joindre  au  luth  sonue  d'une  moins  contraincte  cadance. 
He  also  invented  other  rhythms,  which  shew  however  more  ingenuity  than  taste. 


XVII]  THE   LESSER   STARS  9 

certain  amount  of  quantitative  measurement,  and  as  a  conse- 
sequence  a  larger  musical  element. 

For  at  the  bottom  of  Bai'f's  attempted  reforms  both  in 
spelling  and  in  versification  was  the  belief  which  he  shared 
with  Ronsard1  in  the  close  connexion  between  poetry  and 
music.  It  was  this  belief  which  led  him  to  found  under  the 
—patronage  of  Charles  IX  the  Academie  de poesie  et  de  musique2. 
Established  at  the  close  of  15703  it  consisted  of  two  classes 
of  members,  Musicians  or  poets  and  Listeners  (Auditeurs), 
the  former  class  being  paid  stipends  provided  by  the  sub- 
scriptions of  the  latter.  At  the  weekly  meetings  which  were 
held  on  Sundays,  as  a  rule  in  Bai'f's  house,  the  Musicians 
recited  their  poems,  apparently  to  the  accompaniment  of 
music4.  During  the  lifetime  of  Charles  IX,  who  accepted  the 
title  of  Protector  and  First  Listener  of  the  society,  the 
Academy  flourished  greatly,  and  numbered  the  chief  poets 
of  the  day  among  its  members.  Its  chief  business  was,  as 
Sainte-Beuve  says,  the  determination  of  the  quantity  of  sounds5, 
a  work  with  which,  as  we  have  seen,  the  phonetic  reforms, 
proposed  by  Bai'f  and  others,  were  closely  connected.  And 
not  only  in  the  matter  of  quantity,  but  in  everything  connected 
with  poetry,  Bai'f  endeavoured  to  revive  classical  practices. 
It  was   before  the  Academy  that  he  recited  his  versions  of 

1  La  musique,  disoit-il,  est  la  sceur  puisnie  de  la  poesie. .  .sans  la  niusiqite  la  poesie 
est  presqite  sans  grace.     Binet,    Vie  de  Ronsard. 

2  See  E.  Fremy,  V academie  des  dcrniers  I'alois,   1887. 

3  Date  of  letters-patent,  November,  1570. 

4  Les  musiciens  seront  tenus  tons  les  Jours  de  dimanche  chanter  et  reciter  leurs 
lettres  et  musique  mesurees,  selon  fordre  convenu  par  entr'eux,  deux  heures  d'horloge 
durant  en  faveur  des  auditeurs  escrits  an  livre  de  r academie  ou  enrigistreront  les 
noms,  sumo/us  et  qualitez  de  ceux  qui  se  cottisent  pour  Pentretien  de  f  academie, 
ensemble  la  somme  en  laquelle  se  seront  de  leur  gre  cottisez  ;  et  pareillement  les 
noms  et  sttrnoms  des  musiciens  d'icelle  et  les  convenances  sous  lesquelles  ils  seront 
entrez,  receics  et  appointez.     (Statute  2.) 

The  twelfth  statute  is  so  admirable  that  I  cannot  forbear  quoting  it  also : 
Les  auditeurs,  durant  que  I'on  ckantera,  ne  parleront  ny  ne  s'acousleront  ny 
feront  bruit,  mat's  se  tiendront  le  plus  coy  qiiil  leur  sera  possible,  jusques  a  ce  que  la 
chanson  qui  se prononcera  soil  fuiie  ;  et  durant  que  se  dira  tine  chanson,  ne  fraperont 
h.  I'huis  de  la  sale  qiion  ouvrira  a  la  fin  de  chaque  chanson  pour  admettre  les  audi- 
teurs attendans. 

3  Mesurer  les  sons  elcmenlaires  de  la  langue  (  Tableau,  p.  81). 


IO  THE   LESSER   STARS  [CH. 

Sophocles  and  Terence,  and  made  suggestions  for  the  intro- 
duction on  the  French  stage  of  the  rhythmical  movements 
of  the  classical  chorus1.  After  the  death  of  Charles  IX  the 
Academy  languished  for  a  time  till  in  the  year  1576  it  was 
reconstituted.  Bai'f  himself  soon  after  the  realisation  of  his 
project  began  to  suffer  from  the  complaint  of  which  he 
eventually  died,  and  the  remainder  of  his  life  was  clouded  not 
only  by  the  straitened  circumstances  in  which  the  religious 
wars  involved  so  many  men  of  letters,  but  by  ill-health.  He 
survived  however  all  the  members  of  the  Pleiad  except 
Pontus  de  Tyard,  and  died  on  September  19,  1589,  while  the 
new  king,  Henry  IV,  was  fighting  against  the  League  at  Arques. 
Nature  had  not  endowed  Bai'f  with  more  than  a  slender  portion 
of  poetic  genius,  and  he  did  not  sufficiently  cultivate  that 
portion.  The  faults  more  or  less  common  to  the  whole  school, 
the  dependence  on  models,  the  pedantry,  the  artificiality,  are 
more  conspicuous  in  him  than  in  any  other  member  of  it.  But 
the  classical  Renaissance  had  no  more  enthusiastic  or  enter- 
prising champion,  not  even  in  Ronsard  himself. 


2.     Magny,   Tahureau,  Louise  Labe,  Jamyn. 

Outside  the  actual  Pleiad,  the  most  productive  and,  with 
the  exception  of  Louise  Labe,  the  most  interesting  poet,  at 
any  rate  of  those  who  confined  themselves  to  non-dramatic 
poetry,  is  Olivier  de  Magny.  He  has  been  compared  to  Alfred 
de  Musset,  and  certainly  he  reminds  us  of  Sainte-Beuve's 
remarks  on  that  poet :  "  il  entra  dans  le  sanctnaire  lyrique 
tout  eperonne,  et  par  la  fenetre,je  le  crois  bien,"  and  again,  "  il 
osa  avoir  de  lesprit,  mime  avec  un  brin  de  seandale."  And 
Magny  might  have  said  of  himself,  as  Musset  did  : 

77  dta.it  gai,  jenne  et  hardi, 
Et  se  jetait  en  etourdi 

A  Paventure; 
Librement  il  respirait  Pair, 
Et  pai'fois  il  se  montrait  Jier 

D'une  blessure. 

1  See  Baif's  An  roy  {Poesies  choisies,  p.  52). 


XVII]  THE   LESSER    STARS  II 

For  Magny,  like  Musset,  drank  freely  of  the  cup  of 
pleasure,  and  he  gives  us  his  '  confessions '  with  the  same 
naive  frankness.  But  his  love-affairs,  unlike  Musset's,  never 
passed  from  the  domain  of  gallantry  to  that  of  passion,  so 
that  though  he  outlived  the  age  at  which  Musset  had  written 
practically  all  his  best  things,  he  resembles  rather  the  poet 
of  the  Andalouse  and  the  Ballade  a  la  lime  than  the  poet  of 
the  Nuits  and  the  Stances  a  la  Malibran.  The  date  of  his 
birth  is  uncertain,  but  it  must  have  been  about  15301.  He 
was  quite  a  young  man  when  he  came  from  Cahors,  of  which 
like  Marot  he  was  a  native,  to  Paris,  where  he  became 
secretary  to  his  fellow-provincial  Hugues  Salel,  abbot  of  Saint- 
Cheron2.  His  patron  dying  in  1553  he  was  left  for  a  time 
without  any  regular  employment.  It  was  doubtless  with  a 
view  to  obtaining  it  that  he  published  in  that  year  a  volume 
of  poems  entitled  Amours.  It  consisted  of  102  sonnets 
addressed  to  an  ideal  mistress,  probably  Marguerite  de  Gordon, 
a  noble  lady  of  the  neighbourhood  of  Cahors,  and  of  fifteen 
odes,  of  which  some  are  addressed  to  various  friends  and 
others  to  a  real  mistress,  whom  he  calls  Castianire3.  In  the 
ease  and  fluency  of  its  verse  this  volume  is  very  similar  to 
Bai'f's  Amours  and  as  in  the  case  of  Baif  the  odes  of  the  real 
lover  are  superior  to  the  sonnets  of  the  ideal  one.  They  have 
the  grace  and  liveliness  which  come  naturally  to  Magny  when 
he  is  himself  and  not  an  imitator  of  others.  The  succeeding 
volume,  Gayete's,  published  in  1554,  shews  the  same  qualities 
and  deals  with  the  same  subjects,  love  and  friendship.  The 
longest  piece,  Les  Matinales,  is  a  clever  imitation  of  Ronsard's 
Les  Bacc/tanales*. 

Early  in  1555  he  went  to  Rome  as  secretary  to  Jean 
d'Avanson,  who  was  charged  with  a  special  mission  to  the 
Pope5.       He    returned    in    1556    and    in    the    following   year 


1  For  Magny  see  J.  Favre,  Olivier  de  Magny,  1885. 

2  See  ante,  I.  p.  93. 

3  He  also  published  in   1553  Hymne  sur  la  naissance  de  Madame  Marguerite 
de  France.,  avec  quelques  autres  vers  liriques  {Dernieres  poesies). 

4  Ed.  E.  Courbet,  p.  62. 

5  M.  Favre,  p.  53,  assigns  this  mission  to  1553;  the  correct  date  is  given  by 


12  THE   LESSER   STARS  [CH. 

published  a  new  volume  under  the  title  of  Souspirs.  It  was 
written  at  Rome  at  the  same  time  as  Du  Bellay's  Regrets, 
which  it  closely  resembles  in  title,  form  and  substance : 

Selon  les  passions  ou  j'ai  este  submis, 
Ou  bien,  ou  mal,  d'amour,  ou  de  mes  ennemys, 
J'ay  descrit  chacun  jour  la  cause  toute  telle. 

Et  c'est  pourquoy,  Duthier,  on  void  dedans  ces  vers 
Par  cy,  par  Ik  meslez  tant  d'arguments  divers 
Et  que  plains  de  soupirs,  Soupirs  je  les  appelle1. 

It  is  impossible  to  say  which  of  the  two  men  was  the 
originator  of  the  idea,  but  doubtless  the  execution  was  carried 
out  in  friendly  rivalry2.  Magny's  journal  intime  is  kept  with 
far  less  discretion,  so  far  as  his  own  affairs  are  concerned, 
than  Du  Bellay's.  In  execution  it  shews  a  marked  improve- 
ment on  his  preceding  work  ;  the  style  is  not  merely  fluent, 
but  it  is  often  distinguished.  The  variety  of  the  themes,  tatit 
d'arguments  divers,  and  the  poet's  light  touch  make  this  volume 
more  agreeable  reading  than  any  of  the  sonnet-sequences  of 
the  period,  except  Du  Bellay's  Regrets.  As  is  usual  with 
Magny  there  is  a  good  deal  of  imitation,  not  to  say  literal 
translation,  from  the  Latins  and  Italians,  especially  from 
Petrarch.  The  sonnet  which  most  excited  the  admiration  of 
Magny's  contemporaries,  and  which  was  set  to  music  by  the 
celebrated  composer  Orlando  di  Lassus,  is  one  made  on  the 
pattern  of  a  strambotto  by  Serafino  : 

M.    Hola,  Charon,  Charon  Nautonnier  infernal. 
C.     Qui  est  cest  importun  qui  si  presse  m'appelle? 
M.    C'est  l'esprit  dplore"  d'un  amoureux  fidelle, 

Lequel  pour  bien  aimer  n'eust  jamais  que  du  mal. 
C.     Que  cherches  tu  de  moy?     M.    Le  passaige  fatal. 
C.     Qui  est  ton  homicide?     M.    O  demande  cruelle  ! 

Amour  m'a  fait  mourir.     C.   Jamais  dans  ma  nasselle 

Nul  subget  a  l'amour  je  ne  conduis  a  val. 
M.    Et  de  grace,  Charon,  regois-moy  dans  ta  barque. 
C.     Cherche  un  autre  nocher,  car  ny  moy  ny  la  Parque 

M.  Chamard,_/.  du  Bellay,  p.  315  n.  1.  Magny  clearly  did  not  leave  France  till 
after  the  publication  of  the  1554  volume. 

1  Concluding  sonnet  (ed.  Courbet,  p.  123). 

2  Magny  arrived  in  Rome  at  the  end  of  March  1555,  and  Du  Bellay  did  not 
begin  the  Regrets  before  the  summer  of  that  year. 


XVII]  THE   LESSER   STARS  1 3 

N'entreprenons  jamais  sur  ce  maistre  des  dieux. 
M.    J'iray  done  maugre  toy,  car  j'ay  dedans  mon  ame 
Tant  de  traicts  amoureux  et  de  larmes  aux  yeux, 
Que  je  feray  le  fleuve,  et  la  barque,  et  la  rame1. 

But  the  gem  of  the  series  is  the  following,  which  in  its 
simplicity  and  in  its  distinction,  in  its  imaginative  language 
and  rich  harmony,  is  worthy  to  stand  beside  the  best  sonnets 
of  Ronsard  and  Du  Bellay  : 

Puisque  le  cler  Soleil  veult  apparoistre  aux  cieux, 
Et  que  je  voy  desja  la  rougissante  Aurore 
Qui  de  ses  raiz  vermeils  le  ciel  d'lnde  colore, 
Sus-sus  chassons,  Bellay,  ce  somme  de  noz  yeux. 

Allons  passer  aux  champs  ce  loisir  ocieux, 
Pangeas  avecques  nous  y  viendra  bien  encore, 
Et  qu'un  chascun  de  nous  a  son  reng  rememore 
Ses  antiques  amours  d'un  chant  soulacieux. 

Imitons  les  oiseaux  qui  par  ces  verds  boucaiges 
Au  gazouil  des  ruysseaux  degoizent  leurs  ramaiges, 
Bienveignant  de  leurs  voix  l'Aurore  a  son  retour. 

Voyla  ja  Gohory,  qui  de  sa  main  apreste 
Un  chapeau  verdissant  qui  ne  craint  la  tempeste, 
Pour  cil  qui  ce  jourd'huy  chantera  mieux  l'amour2. 

The  Odes  published  in  15  59s  were  Magny's  most  ambitious 
work,  the  first  two  books  consisting  chiefly  of  long,  too  long, 
odes  addressed  to  various  friends  and  patrons.  But  it  is  in 
the  shorter  and  lighter  poems  of  the  three  latter  books  that 
he  is  at  his  best.  In  the  third  book  are  the  Polypheme*,  a 
fairly  close  imitation  of  the  Cyclops  of  Theocritus,  five  Vceux* 
which  should  be  compared  with  Du  Bellay's,  an  Horatian  ode 
entitled  De  la  condition  de  la  vie  des  homines*,  and  a  charming 
ode  of  great  vivacity  on  a  dog  named  Peloton  or  Ploton,  whom 
Du  Bellay  had  already  celebrated7.  But  I  will  quote  in  prefer- 
ence to  these  two  from  the  fourth  book.  The  first  shews  how 
gracefully  and  even  originally  Magny  could  treat  the  well-. 
worn  subject  of  the  gold  and  ivory,  the  coral  and  pearls  of  a 
mistress's  face : 

1  No.  lxiv.  ib.  p.  47.  2  No.  cxxxiii.  ib.  p.  94. 

3  Ed.  Courbet,  2  vols.  1876.  4  II.  14.  5  ib.  59 — 64. 

6  ib.  74;  Saintsbury,  Specimens  of  French  Literature,  p.  68. 

7  Ed.  Courbet,  II.  79. 


14  THE   LESSER   STARS  [CH. 

Elle  est  a  vous,  douce  maistresse, 
Ceste  belle  et  dore'e  tresse, 
Qui  feroit  honte  au  mesmes  or, 
Et  ce  front  qui  d'ivoire  semble, 
Et  ces  yeux  deux  astres  ensemble, 
Maistresse,  sont  a  vous  encor. 

A  vous  est  ce  beau  teinct  de  rozes, 
Et  ces  deux  belles  levres  closes, 
Qui  semblent  deux  brins  de  coral  : 
Et  ces  dentz  par  ou  se  repousse 
Le  muse  de  vostre  aleine  douce, 
Qui  semblent  perles  ou  cristal. 

Bref  a  vous  est  la  belle  face, 
Le  bon  esprit,  la  bonne  grace, 
Qu'on  veoid  en  vous  et  l'entretien  : 
Seulle  est  a  moy  la  peine  dure, 
Et  tous  les  travaulx  que  j'endure 
Pour  vous  aymer  et  vouloir  bien1. 

The  other  is  a  concise  and  beautiful  expression  of  that 
Renaissance  spirit  of  which  Magny  was  so  representative  a 

type: 

Pour  garder  que  le  plaisir 
Qui  nous  vient  ore  saysir, 
De  long  temps  ne  nous  eschappe, 
Du  Buys,  fais  porter  la  nappe, 
Et  dresser  viste  a  manger. 
Tandis  je  vaiz  arranger 
Dega  et  de  la  Catulle, 
Properce,  Ovide,  et  Tibulle, 
Dessus  la  table  espendus, 
Entre  les  lucz  bien  tendus, 
Et  les  lucz  entre  les  rozes, 
Et  les  rozes  my  decloses 
Entre  les  ceilletz  fleuriz, 
Les  ceilletz  entre  les  liz, 
Et  les  liz  entre  les  tasses, 
Parmy  les  vaisselles  grasses. 
La  mort,  peult  estre,  demain 
Viendra  prendre  par  la  main 
Le  plus  gay  de  ceste  trouppe, 
Pour  l'enlever  sur  sa  croupe 

1  Ed.  Courbet,  II.  156. 


XVII]  THE    LESSER   STARS  15 

Luy  disant  a  l'impourveu, 
'  Sus  gallant,  c'est  assez  beu, 
II  est  temps  de  venir  boire 
Aux  enfers  de  l'onde  noire1.' 

It  will  be  noticed  that  Magny  here  makes  use  of  a  metrical 
resource  which  one  rarely  meets  with  in  the  poetry  of  the 
Pleiad  school,  but  which,  when  used  in  moderation,  often 
adds  to  the  music  of  poetry — I  mean  repetition,  or  the  principle 
of  the  refrain.  It  will  be  found  in  other  poems  of  the  Odes ; 
indeed  in  some  it  degenerates  into  a  mechanical  jingle2. 

On  May  31,  1559,  probably  after  the  publication  of  the 
Odes,  Magny  was  appointed  one  of  the  King's  secretaries. 
Two  years  later  'death  took  by  the  hand  the  gayest  of  the 
troop3.'  Magny  has  many  of  the  defects  of  his  school.  He  is 
too  much  given  to  imitation;  he  is  often  artificial  and  pedantic; 
he  has  even  greater  facility  than  Bai'f,  and  he  has  the  same 
disinclination  to  blot.  But  he  has  more  originality,  and  more 
real  poetic  feeling.  His  short  pieces,  in  which  he  excels,  have 
not  only  grace  and  delicacy,  but  precision.  Of  all  the  poets 
of  the  Pleiad  he  comes  nearest  to  his  friend  Du  Bellay.  His 
poetry  has  an  atmosphere  of  its  own,  and  it  is  an  atmosphere 
of  life. 

Another  poet  who,  like  Magny,  died  young  was  Jacques 
Tahureau,  of  an  Angevin  family  which  had  settled  at  Le  Mans 
where  he  was  born  in  1527.  He  died  towards  the  close  of 
1555,  having  published  in  the  previous  year  two  volumes  of 
poetry  entitled  respectively  Premieres  Poesies,  and  Sonnets, 
odes,  et  mignardises  amour  enses  de  I'Admire'e*.  His  friend 
Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye  has  spoken  of  his  '  sugared '  art5, 
but  this  expression  only  applies  to  the  mignardises  amonrenses 

1  ib.  88. 

2  For  instance  in  the  last  stanza  of  the  Ode,  A  s'amye  ett  ltd  disant  adieu 
(ib.  143),  and  in  the  chanson  on  p.  173. 

3  His  place  was  filled  up  on  July  31,  1561  {Dernieres  poesies,  ed.  Courbet,  p.  xxx). 

4  The  privilege  for  both  volumes  is  dated  March  7,  154-J.  The  premieres 
poesies,  which  are  of  little  merit,  were  therefore  probably  written  before  this  date. 
The  sonnets  were  not  written  before  1553. 

Lors  Angers  nous  fit  voir  Tahureau,  qui  mignart 
Nous  affrianda  tous  au  sucre  de  cet  art. 

A  son  livre. 


1 6  THE   LESSER   STARS  [CH. 

and  the  baisers,  which  form  but  a  small  proportion  of  his 
second  volume.  The  sonnets  and  a  few  other  grave  poems, 
which  belong  to  the  last  two  or  three  years  of  his  life,  are 
more  characteristic  of  the  man.  The  sonnets  are  distinguished 
from  the  great  majority  of  the  sonnet-sequences  of  the  period, 
first  by  a  note  of  real  passion,  and  secondly  by  the  absence  of 
the  usual  Petrarchian  commonplaces.  They  have  flashes  of 
real  imagination,  and  considerable  originality  of  thought, 
together  with  a  love  of  argument  and  antithesis  which  reminds 
one  of  Shakespeare's  sonnets.  But  they  are  careless,  rough 
and  inharmonious,  and  though  they  contain  some  lines  of 
first-rate  quality1,  they  are  seldom  good  throughout.  It  is 
doubtful  whether  so  poor  a  workman  would  ever  have 
developed  into  a  great  poet.  The  following  is  a  favourable 
specimen  of  his  work  : 

Dames  de  Tours,  si  onq  en  vostre  cueur 
Entra  d'Amour  la  poignante  estincelle, 
Voyez,  helas  !    la  cruaute  de  celle 
Qui  se  repaist  et  baigne  en  ma  langueur. 

Je  suys  certain  que,  voyant  la  rigueur 
Dont  elle  tant  a  sa  moytie  rebelle, 
La  bannirez  au  nom  de  Tourangelle, 
Nom  qui  ne  sent  rien  moins  qu'une  ranqueur. 

Mais,  mais  voyez,  que  dis-je!    6  grand  blaspheme! 
Voudriez  vous  bien  cette  beaute  extresme 
Desestimer  digne  de  vostre  nom, 

Celle  sans  qui  l'honneur  de  vostre  ville, 
Veuf  de  son  loz,  languiroit  inutile 
Et  orphelin  de  son  plus  haut  renom2? 

1  Such  as  : 

Tu  pourras  bien  choisir  un  serviteur 
Ayant  en  main  de  plus  grandes  richesses, 
Tout  seme  d'or,   de  gemmeuses  largesses, 
Superbe  et  fier  dun  hazardeux  bonheur. 

lxxxv.  (ed.  Blanchemain,  II.  131). 
Traisnant  ma  vie  amerement  austere. 

xlvii.  (id.  58). 
Soit  qu'au  milieu  de  la  plaine  muette, 
Compagne  a  tous  mes  plus  segrez  ennuiz. 

lviii.  [id.  66). 

2  There  is  a  breath  of  rich  imagination  in  one  of  the  two  sonnets  (lxxx.  id.  93) 
translated  by  A.  Lang,  op.  cit.  p.  36. 


XVI I]  THE    LESSER    STARS  1 7 

Tahureau  had  a  sceptical  and  pessimistic  vein  in  his  nature, 
which  going  deeper  than  it  did  in  some  of  his  fellow-poets 
gives  a  sombre  tone  to  several  of  his  poems,  such  as  the 
elegy  to  Charles  Belot  on  the  death  of  his  sister  and  the  two 
poems  entitled  De  la  vanite  des  homines  and  De  V inconstance 
des  e/ioses1.  The  following  stanzas  are  from  De  la  vanite  des 
hommes : 

L'homme  ne  scaurait  prendre  en  un  jour  tant  d'e"bas, 

Que,  devant  la  soiree, 
II  ne  die  en  son  cceur,  plus  de  cent  fois  :    Helas  ! 

Maugreant  la  journee  ; 

Et  le  fol  au  rebours,  qui  tousjours  se  tourmente 

Pour  peu  d'occasion, 
De  lui-mesme  bourreau  vainement  se  lamente 

Comble  d'afliction. 

Maint  pique  vainement  d'un  desir  trop  extreme 

Veut  tout  voir  icy  bas  : 
II  veut  connoistre  tout  ;    mais  le  grand  sot,  lui-mesme 

II  ne  se  connoist  pas. 

Tout  ce  que  l'homme  fait,  tout  ce  que  l'homme  pense 

En  ce  bas  monde  icy, 
N'est  rien  qu'un  vent  legier,  qu'une  vaine  esperance 

Pleine  d'un  vain  souci. 

Fuions  doncques,  fuions  ces  trop  vaines  erreurs, 

Dressons  notre  courage 
Vers  ce  grand  Dieu  qui  seul  nous  peut  rendre  vainqueurs 

De  ce  mondain  orage  ; 

Recherchons  saintement  sa  parole  fidelle, 

Invoquons  sa  bonte, 
Car,  certes,  sans  cela  notre  race  rnortelle 
N'est  rien  que  vanite. 
This  'conclusion  of  the  whole  matter'  is  noteworthy  as 
being  identical  not  only  with  that  of  Ecclesiastes,  of  which 
Tahureau  left  an  unpublished  translation  in  verse,  but  with 
his  own  conclusion  in  his  prose  dialogues2.     These  dialogues, 
which  became  exceedingly  popular3,  were  published,  ten  years 

1  ib.  170,  203,  221. 

2  Heureux  celui  duquel  Fesperance  est  au  nom  du  Seigneur  Dieu  et  qui  ne 
s 'est  point  arreste  aux  vanites  et  fausses  reveries  du  monde. 

3  There  were  fifteen  editions  from  1565  to  1602. 


1 8  THE    LESSER    STARS  [CH. 

after  his  death,  in  1565  under  the  title  of  Les  dialogues  de  feu 
Jaques  Tahureau  non  woiiis  profitables  que  facetieuses  on  les  vices 
d'uu  ck&cun  sont  repris  fort  aprement,  po?ir  nous  animer  davan- 
tage  a  les  fuir  et  suivre  la  vertu1.  They  have  been  generally 
classified  among  the  Contes  of  the  sixteenth  century,  but  they 
contain  few  anecdotes,  and,  as  Marty- La veaux  has  pointed 
out  (though  he  adopts  the  usual  classification),  they  are,  as 
the  title  shews,  moral  studies,  almost  sermons2.  They  are 
written  in  the  dialogue  form  which  Pierre  Viret  had  made 
popular  among  Protestant  writers,  and  are  of  little  interest 
except  as  throwing  some  light  on  sixteenth  century  manners 
and  customs.  The  speakers  are  Democritic,  the  censor  of  the 
world — his  name  also  denotes  that  he  is  a  follower  of  the 
philosopher  Democritus,- — and  Cosmophile  its  apologist.  But, 
as  in  most  of  these  satirical  dialogues,  there  is  no  attempt  at 
fair  play,  and  Cosmophile  merely  serves  to  feed  Democritic 
with  fresh  fuel  for  his  satire3. 

Tahureau,  when  he  published  his  two  volumes  of  poetry 
at  Poitiers  in  1554,  was  the  recognised  chief  of  a  small  band 
of  young  men  of  literary  aspirations  who  for  one  reason  or 
another  were  living  in  that  city,  which  at  this  time  seems  to 
have  been  regarded  as  the  literary  capital  not  only  of  Poitou 
but  of  the  neighbouring  provinces.  Guillaume  Bouchet,  the 
author  of  the  Sere'es,  was  a  bookseller  of  the  town  and  of  about 
the  same  age  as  Tahureau  ;  Scevole  de  Sainte-Marthe, 
Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye,  Charles  Toutain  and  Andre  de 
Rivaudeau   were   students   of  the   University  and   some  ten 

1  Ed.  F.  Conscience,  1870. 

2  Petit  de  Julleville,  in.  78. 

3  For  a  full  discussion  of  the  identity  of  L 'Admiree,  the  lady  of  Tahureau's 
verse,  see  H.  Chardon,  La  vie  de  Tahureau,  48  ff.  and  the  references  given  in  his 
pages.  All  that  is  certain  is  (1)  that  her  real  name  was  Marie,  and  that  V Admire" t 
is  an  incomplete  anagram  of  her  name,  (2)  that  she  was  the  sister  of  Baif  's  Francine, 
and  a  native  of  Tours,  (3)  that  on  September  28,  1555,  Tahureau  married  Marie 
Grene  who  was  living  at  La  Charite,  a  town  of  the  Nivernais  on  the  right  bank  of 
the  Loire.  Blanchemain  conjectured  with  a  fair  show  of  probability  that  the 
family  name  of  the  two  sisters  was  De  Gennes.  It  seems  clear  from  Tahureau's 
poetry  that  some  crisis  took  place  in  his  life  about  1553  which  inspired  him  with  a 
pessimistic  view  of  life.  My  own  belief  is  that  Marie  Grene  consoled  him  for  his 
long  ill-treatment  at  the  hands  of  U  Admiree. 


XVIl]  THE    LESSER    STARS  19 

years  younger.  Here  too  Jean-Antoine  de  Bai'f,  the  close 
friend  of  Tahureau,  resided  for  nine  months  and  lost  his  heart 
to  Francine.  Here  too  Jean  Bastier  de  la  Peruse,  a  native 
of  Angouleme,  wrote  his  tragedy  of  Mede'e,  and  died  like 
Tahureau  in   1555. 

In  the  same  year  1555  there  appeared  in  another  quarter 
of  France  a  volume  of  poetry  which  resembled  Tahureau's 
in  being  rough  and  unequal  in  execution  and  in  being  the 
sincere  record  of  a  true  passion.  Louise  Labe1,  la  belle 
Cordiere,  the  only  distinguished  French  poetess  of  the 
Renaissance,  is  usually  classed  by  historians  of  literature 
under  the  school  of  Lyons.  It  is  sometimes  added  that  she 
was  a  pupil  of  Maurice  Sceve,  but  there  is  no  evidence  of 
this,  and  her  poetry  is  certainly  very  far  removed  from  the 
cold  metaphysical  subtleties  of  Sceve  and  Heroet.  Moreover 
her  poems  did  not  appear  till  the  year  1555,  and  her  use  of 
the  sonnet-form  shews  that  they  must  almost  certainly  have 
been  written  after  1549.  Thus  though  her  work  both  in  its 
merits  and  in  its  defects  is  very  different  from  that  of  the 
ordinary  followers  of  Ronsard,  it  is  to  the  period  of  the  Pleiad 
that  she  properly  belongs.  She  has  occupied  the  attention  of 
many  biographers-,  but  after  all  little  is  known  of  her  life. 
According'  to  her  own  account,  which  there  does   not   seem 


1  b.  1525  or  26 — d.  1 566. 

2  The  best  and  most  sober  account  of  her  life  is  that  by  C.  Boy  in  vol.  II.  of 
his  edition.  He  thinks  that  she  was  born  before  1524  on  the  ground  that  she 
must  have  been  the  daughter  of  her  father's  second  wife,  who  is  said  to  have  died 
not  later  than  that  year.  But  the  evidence  for  this  is  not  very  clear,  and  I  see  no 
reason  to  doubt  her  own  statement  that  she  was  twenty-nine  at  the  time  of  writing 
her  third  Elegy,  which  is  evidently  intended  as  an  envoi  to  her  volume.  This  was 
published  in  1555  by  Jean  de  Tournes  under  the  title  of  Euures  de  Lottize  Labe 
Lionnoize;  it  contained  besides  her  own  productions  twenty-four  poems  written  by 
various  poets,  including  Sceve,  Ba'if,  Tyard  and  Magny.  In  the  following  year  it 
was  republished  twice  by  Tournes  and  once  at  Rouen.  There  was  no  further  edition 
till  1762,  in  which  an  ode  by  Peletier  was  added  to  the  Escriz  de  divers  poetes. 
In  the  last  century  there  were  several  editions,  but  only  two  of  any  merit,  that 
of  P.  Blanchemain  and  that  of  Charles  Boy.  M.  Boy  has  disposed  of  much  of 
the  romance  which  Turquety  and  Blanchemain  hail  woven  round  Louise,  especially 
of  the  story  that  she  fought  in  the  siege  of  Perpignan.  M.  Favre  in  his  Olivier  de 
Magny  takes  the  same  view  as  M.  Boy  of  her  character. 

2 — 2 


20  THE   LESSER   STARS  [CH. 

sufficient  reason  to  doubt,  she  was  born  in  1525  or  1526. 
The  daughter  of  a  well-to-do  ropemaker,  she  married  a 
husband  of  the  same  trade,  named  Ennemond  Perrin  ;  and 
being  clever,  beautiful  and  attractive,  received  men  of  letters 
at  her  house.  Scandal  naturally  busied  itself  with  her  name, 
but  there  is  nothing  to  shew  that  she  was  other  than  a 
virtuous  woman1.  Magny  on  his  way  to  Rome  in  1555  paid 
court  to  her  and  hoped  he  had  made  an  impression.  But  on 
his  return  a  year  later  he  was  undeceived,  and  his  injured 
vanity  led  him  to  write  a  poem  for  which,  according  to 
modern  notions,  he  should  have  been  horsewhipped2.  There 
had  been  one  great  passion  in  the  life  of  Louise  and  this  had 
left  room  for  no  other.  It  had  been  many  years  ago,  before 
she  was  sixteen,  but  it  had  burnt  itself  into  her  imagination, 
and  it  still  burns  in  her  verse  : 

Tout  aussi  tot  que  ie  commence  a  prendre 

Dens  le  mol  lit  le  repos  desire", 

Mon  triste  esprit  hors  de  moy  retire 

S'en  va  vers  toy  incontinent  se  rendre. 
Lors  m'est  avis  que  dedens  mon  sein  tendre 

Ie  tiens  le  bien,  ou  i'ay  tant  aspire, 

Et  pour  lequel  i'ay  si  haut  souspire, 

Que  de  sanglots  ay  souvent  cuide  fendre. 
O  dous  sommeil,  6  nuit  a  moy  heureuse  ! 

Plaisant  repos,  plein  de  tranquility, 

Continuez  toutes  les  nuiz  mon  songe  : 
Et  si  iamais  ma  povre  ame  amoureuse 

Ne  doit  avoir  de  bien  en  verite, 

Faites  au  moins  qu'elle  en  ait  en  mensonge. 

Baise  m'encor,  rebaise  moy  et  baise  : 
Donne  nven  un  de  tes  plus  savoureus, 
Donne  m'en  un  de  tes  plus  amoureus  : 
Ie  t'en  rendray  quatre  plus  chaus  que  braise. 

Las,  te  pleins  tu  ?    qa  que  ce  mal  i'apaise, 
En  t'en  donnant  dix  autres  doucereus. 
Ainsi  meslans  nos  baisers  tant  heureus 
Iouissons  nous  Tun  de  l'autre  a  notre  aise. 

1  Ceste  avoit  la  face  phis  angelique,  qu'kumaine :  t/tais  ce  n'estoit  rien  a  la 
comparaison  de  son  esprit  tant  chaste,  tant  vertueux,  tant  poetique,  tant  rare  en 
scavoir.     (Paradin,  Memoires  de  Fhist.  de  Lyon,  1573,  cited  by  Boy.) 

3  A  sire  Ay  mon,  Odes,  11.  222  ff. 


XVII]  THE   LESSER   STARS  21 

Lors  double  vie  a  chacun  en  suivra. 

Chacun   en  soy  et  son   ami  vivra. 

Permets  m' Amour  penser  quelque  folie  : 
Tousiours  suis  mal,  vivant  discrettement, 

Et  ne  me  puis  donner  contentement, 

Si  hors  de  moy  ne  fay  quelque  faillie. 
Ne  reprenez,   Dames,  si  i'ay  ayme  : 

Si  i'ay  senti  mile  torches  ardantes, 

Mile  travaus,  mile  douleurs  mordantes  : 

Si  en  pleurant,  i'ay  mon  tems  consume, 
Las  que  mon  nom  n'en  soit  par  vous  blame. 

Si  i'ay  failli,  les  peines  sont  presentes, 

N'aigrissez  point  leurs  pointes  violentes  : 

Mais  estimez  qu'Amour,  a  point  nomme, 
Sans  votre  ardeur  d'un  Vulcan  excuser, 

Sans  la  beaute  d'Adonis  acuser, 

Pourra,  s'il  veut,  plus  vous  rendre  amoureuses  : 
En  ayant  moins  que  moy  d'ocasion, 

Et  plus  d'estrange  &  forte  passion. 

Et  gardez  vous  d'estre  plus  malheureuses1. 

The  language  is  archaic  and  somewhat  awkward,  and 
there  is  little  music  in  the  verse,  but  these  defects  are  redeemed 
by  the  sincerity  of  the  passion  and  by  the  instinctive  feeling 
for  the  true  sonnet-cadence. 

The  three  elegies  which  accompany  the  twenty-four 
sonnets  are  in  no  way  remarkable,  but  the  volume  also 
contains  a  little  prose-fable,  Debat  de  folie  et  d' amour,  which  is 
full  of  charm  and  delicate  observation.  To  write  a  mythological 
tale  without  pedantry  in  the  days  of  the  Pleiad  was  in  itself 
a  noteworthy  achievement,  and  it  is  superior  to  the  sonnets 
in  execution.  But  it  is  to  her  sonnets  that  Louise  owes 
her  coronet  of  gold. 

These  are  the  chief  poets  who,  born  between  1520  and 
1530,  made  their  first  appearance  in  the  fifties.  A  few  others 
of  lesser  merit  have  obtained  the  honour  of  a  reprint  in 
modern  times.  Such  are  Marc-Claude  de  Buttet,  a  native  of 
Savoy,  who  had  a  fresh  vein  of  fancy,  which  he  expressed  in 
somewhat   provincial   language2 ;    Jean    Doublet,  a   Norman, 

1  Sonnets  ix,  xviii,  xxiv  (printed  from  Boy's  edition). 

2  Epithalame,  1559;  Avialthcc,  1560.     He  adopted  phonetic  spelling  and  wrote 
vers  mesuris  (Pasquier,  Kecherches,  VII.  xi);  his  rhymed  Sapphics  are  not  bad. 


22  THE   LESSER   STARS  [CH. 

author  of  an  indifferent  volume  of  elegies ;  and  Nicolas 
Ellain,  a  Paris  physician  whom  I  have  already  mentioned  as 
the  author  of  sonnets  after  the  pattern  of  Du  Bellay's  Regrets. 
They  have  no  merit  but  that  of  simple  and  correct  language1. 

To  these  may  be  added  Jacques  de  Fouilloux,  a  native 
of  Poitou,  who  published  in  1562  a  treatise  on  hunting  in 
prose  interspersed  with  verse,  which  is  often  cited  by  Buffon, 
and  which  contained  a  poem  in  octosyllabic  metre  of  con- 
siderable charm  and  shewing  a  genuine  love  of  country  life., 
entitled  L 'adolescence  de  Jacques  de  Fouilloux2. 

But  these,  as  well  as  others  who  had  a  larger  measure  of 
contemporary  fame,  such  as  Guillaume  des  Autels,  and  Louis 
le  Caron,  who  was  a  Platonist  and  a  jurist  of  considerable 
distinction3,  may  be  dismissed  in  the  words  of  Estienne 
Pasquier,  CJiacun  d'eux  avoit  sa  maistresse  quit  magnifioit, 
et  chacun  se  promettoit  une  immortality  de  nom  par  ses  vers ; 
toutefois  quelques-uns  se  trouvent  avoir  survecu  leurs  livresi. 

Nor  can  Pasquier  himself,  so  far  as  his  poetry  is  concerned, 
be  said  to  have  escaped  this  fate.  There  is  more  merit  in 
the  verse  of  two  other  men  who  like  himself  obtained  dis- 
tinction in  other  forms  of  literature  as  well  as  in  public  life. 
Estienne  de  la  Boetie,  who  was  born  at  Bordeaux  in  1530, 
and  was  thus  a  year  younger  than  Pasquier,  is  best  known 
first  as  the  friend  of  Montaigne  and  secondly  as  the  author 
of  the  Conti'un,  but  his  few  sonnets  are  not  without  interest. 
Those  which  Montaigne  gave  to  the  world  in  1572  were 
addressed  to  his  future  wife,  Marguerite,  the  daughter  of 
Lancelot  de  Carle.  Montaigne  speaks  of  them  as  sentant 
desja  je  ne  scay  quelle  froideur  man  tale,  and  preferred  to  them 
those  which  La  Boetie  wrote  in  more  ardent  youth  to  a  lady 

1  If  we  may  judge  by  the  Elegies  a  la  belle  fille  by  Ferry  Juliet  of  Besancon, 
published  in  1557  and  reprinted  in  1883,  the  influence  of  the  new  school  had  not 
reached  the  birthplace  of  Victor  Hugo. 

2  Printed  in  Les  poetes  franc.  IV.  326.  Fouilloux  died  during  the  reign  of 
Charles  IX  :  his  volume  is  entitled  Venerie  0:1  Traite  de  la  C/iasse. 

3  b.  1536 — d.  1616.     See  L.  Finvert  in  Rev.  de  la  Ren.  II.  (1902). 

4  Recherches,  VII.  v.  Tasquier  gives  a  list  of  poets  which  is  far  more  trustworthy 
than  that  of  D'Aubigne,  who  includes  several  very  unimportant  names  and  omits 
such  poets  as  Magny  and  Tahureau  {GLtivres,  1.  458). 


XVII]  THE    LESSER    STARS  23 

who  did  not  become  his  wife1.  Rough  and  inharmonious  as 
these  are,  they  have  the  merit  of  sincerity,  and  we  can  readily 
believe  the  writer  when  he  says, 

Je  dis  ce  que  moil  cceur,  ce  que  mou  mal  me  dil2. 

Moreover,  he  shews  more  originality  of  thought  than  the 
professional  sonneteer  of  the  period,  and  his  conception  of 
love  is  less  material.  In  spite  however  of  Montaigne's  judg- 
ment the  one  sonnet  of  La  Boetie's  that  seems  worth  quoting 
is  from  the  later  series  : 

Ce  iourd'huy,  da  Soleil  la  chaleur  alteree 
A  iauny  le  long  poil  de  la  belle  Ceres  : 
Ores  il  se  retire  ;    et  nous  gaignons  le  frais, 
Ma  Marguerite  et  moy,  de  la  douce  seree  ; 

Nous  tracons  dans  les  bois  quelque  voye  esgaree  : 
Amour  marche  deuant,  et  nous  marchons  apres. 
Si  le  vert  ne  nous  plaist  des  espesses  forests, 
Nous  descendons  pour  voir  la  couleur  de  la  pree  ; 

Xous  viuons  francs  d'esmoy,  et  n'auons  point  soucy 
Des  Roys,  ny  de  la  cour,  ny  des  villes  aussi. 
O   Medoc,  mon  pais  solitaire  et  sauvage, 

II  n'est  point  de  pais  plus  plaisant  a.  mes  yeux  : 
Tu  es  au  bout  du  monde,  et  ie  t'en  ayme  mieux, 
Nous  scauons  apres  tous  les  malheurs  de  nostre  aage3. 

I  have  already  mentioned  another  distinguished  public 
character,  Scevole  de  Sainte-Marthe,  as  forming  one  of  the 
Poitiers  circle4.  In  1569  he  published  a  collected  edition  of 
his  French  poetry,  and  ten  years  later  a  new  and  augmented 
edition,  the  number  of  alterations  in  which  shews  that  at  any 
rate  he  took  his  art  seriously5.  One  of  the  best  of  his  sonnets 
is  on  the  sonnet  : 

1  The  twenty-five  later  sonnets  will  be  found  in  the  CEuvres  Completes  of 
La  Boetie,  ed.  P.  Bonnefons  1892.  Six  of  them  were  printed  by  J. -A.  de  Bai'f 
among  his  own  Amours  with  very  considerable  differences,  due  no  doubt  to  the 
desire  of  Bai'f  to  give  him  a  coat  of  Petrarchian  varnish.  See  Bonnefons,  pp.  lxiii — 
lxx;  he  thinks  that  Montaigne  also  touched  up  his  friend's  work  before  publishing 
it.  The  earlier  sonnets,  twenty-nine  in  number,  are  those  printed  by  Montaigne 
in  his  Essais,  I.  xxviii.  They  must  have  been  written  after  1550,  for  they  refer  to 
Ronsard's  Amours  de  Cassandre. 

2  No.  xi.  :i  CEuvres,  p.  283. 

4  B.  at  Loudun  i=.',6, — d.   1623.  ■"■  See  Picot,  I.  nos.  715.  716. 


24  THE   LESSER   STARS  [CH. 

Graves  sonnets,  que  la  docte  Italie 
A  pour  les  siens  la  premiere  enfantes, 
Et  que  la  France  a  depuis  adoptes, 
Vous  apprenant  une  grace  accomplie  ; 

Assez  des-ja  vostre  gloire  annoblie 
Par  tant  d'esprits,  qui  vous  ont  rechantez, 
Fait  que  de  vous  les  haults  cieux  sont  hantez, 
Fait  que  de  vous  ceste  terre  est  remplie. 

Venez  en  rang  aussi  petits  huitains, 
Venez  dizains,  vrais  enfans  de  la  France  : 
Si  au  marcher  vous  n'estes  si  hautains, 

Vous  avez  bien  dessous  moindre  apparence 
Autant  de  grace,  et  ne  meritez  pas 
Ou'un  estranger  vous  face  mettre  en  bas1. 

There  is  merit  too  in  a  sonnet  in  which  he  looks  back  with 
regret  on  the  days  spent  with  Vauquelin  at  Poitiers  : 

La  douce  liberte  nous  servoit  de  nourrice, 
Nous  ignorions  les  maux  qu'enfante  l'avarice, 
Aussi  francs  de  soucy  que  purs  de  mauvaistie  ; 

Et  l'orage  cruel  des  querelles  civiles, 
Qui  sur  nous  depuis  lors  s'est  rue  sans  pitie, 
N'avoit  gaste  nos  champs  et  saccage  nos  villes2. 

But  he  gave  more  time  and  attention  to  Latin  verse  than 
to  French,  and  his  didactic  poem  on  the  education  of  children, 
Paedotrophia,  published  in  1584,  had  from  the  moment  of  its 
first  appearance  an  enormous  success  which  can  only  be 
compared  to  that  of  Rousseau's  Emile.  There  is  only  one 
work  however  of  le  grand  Scevole  which  is  consulted  at  the 
present  day,  and  that  is  his  Elogia,  a  collection  of  panegyrics 
on  the  illustrious  Frenchmen  who  had  died  during  his  life- 
time. The  first  edition,  published  in  1598,  begins  with  Lefevre 
d'Etaples  who  died  in  1536,  the  year  of  Sainte-Marthe's  birth, 
and  ends  with  Florent  Chrestien  who  died  in  1596.  Fresh 
names  were  added  in  subsequent  editions,  the  last  being  that 
of  Estienne  Pasquier  who  died  in  161 5 3.  Yet  Sainte-Marthe 
survived  him  by  eight  years,  dying  in  1623,  in  his  eighty- 
eighth  year. 

1  Qiiivres  choisies  des  poetcs  francais  du  xvie  siecle,  ed.  L.  Becq  de  Fouquieres, 
p.  245. 

2  ib.  p.  246.  s  See  Appendix  G. 


XVI I]  THE    LESSER   STARS  25 

Finally  there  is  a  poet  whom  Pasquier  places  among  the 
arriere-garde  of  the  poetic  army,  and  DAubigne  in  the 
seconde  vole'e,  but  who  should  rather  be  classed  with  the 
contemporaries  of  Ronsard.  This  is  Amadis  Jamyn.  It  is 
true  that  he  did  not  make  his  public  debut  till  1574,  the  close 
of  the  period  of  Ronsard's  activity,  but  he  had  written  much  of 
his  poetry  before  this  date,  being  then  thirty-six,  or  according 
to  some  authorities,  thirty-eight1.  He  was  closely  attached  to 
Ronsard,  who  had  made  him  his  page  and  given  him  a  good 
classical  education,  on  the  strength  of  which  he  completed 
Salel's  translation  of  the  Iliad  and  translated  three  books  of 
the  Odyssey".  It  was  partly  perhaps  from  his  study  of  Homer 
that  he  learnt  the  art  of  writing  dignified  French  verse  with 
ease  and  precision.  Better  almost  than  any  of  Ronsard's 
followers  he  has  caught  the  tone  of  lofty  concentration  proper 
to  the  sonnet.  The  following  except  for  two  rather  bad  lines, 
the  second  and  the  third,  is  excellent  in  point  of  style: 
Le  Nocher  qui  longtemps  dessus  les  flots  venteux 

Sur  la  mer  ha  souffert  maint  different  orage, 

Est  aise  quand  il  voit  la  terre  et  le  riuage, 

Eschape  des  hazards  et  des  vents  perilleux. 
II  apelle,  il  salue,  aueq  vn  coeur  joyeux 

Le  port  bien  asseure  :    puis  loing  de  tout  naufrage 

II  passe  doucement  aupres  de  son  mesnage 

Le  reste  de  ses  ans  desia  foibles  et  vieux. 
Ainsi  apres  auoir  dedans  la  mer  mondaine 

Passe  mille  perils  en  differente  peine, 

Bonnet  se  resiouit  a  l'heure  de  sa  mort ; 

Pour  ne  deuoir  plus  rien  a  quelqu'vn  des  celestes, 

II  se  mit  volontiers  souz  les  ombres  funestes 

Et  le  trespas  certain  luy  sembla  comme  vn  porta. 

But  there  is  little  warmth  or  imagination  in  Jamyn's  work 
and  he  is  far  too  fond  of  those  Petrarchian  conceits,  especially 

1  Born  in  1538  or  1540  at  Chaource  about  20  miles  to  the  south  of  Troyes. 
He  was  thus  only  six  or  at  the  most  eight  years  younger  than  Bai'f.  He  died  in 
1592  or  93. 

-  Salel  had  translated  twelve  books  and  part  of  the  thirteenth.  Jamyn  began 
his  work  at  Book  xii.  which  with  the  four  following  books  was  published  in  1574. 
The  whole  Iliad,  by  Salel  and  Jamyn,  appeared  in  [580,  and  again,  with  the 
addition  of  three  books  of  the  Odyssey,  in  1584. 

3  Ed.  C.  Brunet,  1.  127. 


26  THE   LESSER   STARS  [CH. 

the  over-elaboration  of  a  single  metaphor,  which  his  master 
and  the  majority  of  his  followers  had  by  this  time  almost 
entirely  abandoned.  This  failing  is  fatal  to  his  songs,  and 
becomes  tiresome  in  his  sonnets.  In  the  following  it  may 
perhaps  be  pardoned  for  the  novelty  of  the  metaphor,  which 
possibly  however  is  not  of  his  own  invention  : 

Voyant  les  combatans  de  la  Balle  forcee 
Merquez  de  iaune  et  blanc  l'vn  l'autre  terracer, 
Pesle-mesle  courir,  se  battre,  se  pousser, 
Pour  gaigner  la  victoire  en  la  foule  pressee  : 

Ie  pense  que  la  Terre  a  l'egal  balancee 
Dedans  l'air  toute  ronde,  ainsi  fait  amasser 
Les  hommes  anx  combats,  a  fin  de  renverser 
Ses  nourricons  brulans  d'vne  gloire  insensee. 

La  Balle  ha  sa  rondeur  toute  pleine  de  vent  : 
Pour  du  vent  les  mortels  font  la  guerre  souuent, 
Ne  rapportant  du  ieu  que  la  Mort  qui  les  domte, 

Car  tout  ce  monde  bas  n'est  qu'vn  flus  et  reflus, 
Et  n'apprennent  iamais  a  toute  fin  de  conte, 
Sinon  que  cette  vie  est  vn  songe  et  rien  plus1. 

Another  feature  of  Jamyn's  work,  which  is  not  strictly  a 
literary  one,  but  which  is  worth  noticing  because  he  shares  it 
in  common  with  most  of  the  members  of  his  school,  is  the 
servility  of  his  attitude  towards  his  royal  patrons.  It  is  not 
that  he  could  say  of  Catharine  de'  Medici,  Ses  vertus  tout  assise 
an  rang  des  Immortels,  for  that  was  in  accordance  with  a  well- 
understood  literary  fiction,  nor  that  he  wrote  love-sonnets  for 
Charles  IX  {Amours  d'Eurymedon  et  de  Calliree),  but  his 
poems  on  the  mignons  of  Henry  III  {Sonnets  du  deuil  de 
CleopJwn,  Complainte  de  Cleophon,  etc.)2,  which  the  worthy 
Colletet  could  not  read  without  tears,  surpass  the  limits  of  per- 
missible complaisance.  They  were  an  insult  to  the  good  taste 
and  the  good  feeling  of  the  nation.  It  was  this  subservience  on 
the  part  of  the  Pleiad  poets  to  the  vices  of  the  court  which 
specially  stirred  the  indignation  of  the  Protestants,  and  led 
by  the  force  of  reaction  to  the  more  manly  poetry  of  Du  Bartas 
and  D'Aubigne.     But  before  proceeding  to  consider  the  new 

1  Ed.  Brunet,  I.  51;  translated  by  Cary,  op.  cit.  p.  267. 

2  Published  in  the  volume  of  1584.     See  P.  de  L'Estoile,  Journal,  1.  295. 


XVII]  THE   LESSER   STARS  2y 

developements  which  began  to  shape  themselves  after  the 
year  1574,  it  will  be  well  to  pause  and  consider  the  value  of 
the  work  done  by  Ronsard  and  his  contemporaries. 

3.      The  work  of  the  Pleiad. 

The  first  great  achievement  of  the  Pleiad  was  the  intro- 
duction of  a  higher  conception  of  the  functions  of  poetry  than 
had  prevailed  in  France  for  nearly  three  centuries.  Of  the 
higher  possibilities  of  poetry  Marot  had  only  a  glimmer,  while 
Sceve  and  Margaret  of  Navarre,  though  their  conception 
was  sufficiently  lofty,  practically  lacked  the  accomplishment 
of  verse.  The  confidence  therefore  with  which  Du  Bellay 
proclaimed  his  belief  in  the  future  of  French  poetry  and  in 
its  capacity  to  deal  with  the  highest  themes  was  of  the 
greatest  importance.  It  was  of  equal  importance  that  he 
pointed  to  the  classical  and  the  Italian  languages  as  witnesses 
to  what  poetry  might  achieve,  and  as  furnishing  models  for 
the  study  and  emulation  of  Frenchmen.  It  is  true  that  the 
Pleiad  by  no  means  learnt  all  the  lessons  that  the  great 
classical  masterpieces  have  to  teach.  They  learnt  neither 
economy  nor  restraint  ;  nor  did  they  learn  that  all  great 
poetry  springs  from  the  direct  observation  of  life.  But  they 
did  learn  this — that  the  language  and  the  style  of  poetry 
are  different  from  those  of  prose1.  This  was  the  capital  theory 
of  the  Pleiad,  the  theory  round  which  all  their  reforms 
centred,  whether  in  vocabulary,  in  syntax,  in  style,  or  in 
versification '". 

1  Le  style  prosa'ique  est  ennemi  capital  de  V  eloquence  poetique  (Ronsard  in  first 
preface  to  the  Franciade).  A.  Rosenbauer,  Die  poetischen  Theorien  der  Plejade, 
well  points  out  that  the  reform  of  the  Pleiad  consisted  in  the  sjjbstilulipn  of 
poetic  style  for  rhyme  as  the  principal  aim  of  poetry  (p.  97).  It  will  be  re- 
membered how  Wordsworth's  theory  that  '  between  the  language  of  prose  and 
that  of  metrical  composition  there  neither  is  nor  can  be  any  essential  difference' 
is  demolished  once  for  all  by  Coleridge  in  his  Biographia  litteraria  (11.  cc.  14 — 20), 
largely  by  help  of  Wordsworth's  own  poetry. 

2  The  theories  of  the  Pleiad  are  to  be  found  not  only  in  Du  Bellay's  Defence 
and  preface  to  the  2nd  ed.  of  Olive,  but  in  Ronsard's  Ahrege  de  Fart  poetique, 
published  in  1565  (CEuvres,  VII.  317  ff.),  and  in  his  two  prefaces  to  the  Franciade 
(id.  III.).  See  also  Marty-Laveaux,  La  langue  de  la  J'leiade,  and  L.  Mellerio, 
Lexique  de  Ronsara 


28  THE   LESSER   STARS  [CH. 

As  regards  the  reforms  in  vocabulary,  so  far  is  it  from 
true  that  '  the  muse  of  Ronsard  spoke  Greek  and  Latin '  that 
except  in  his  earliest  work  one  has  to  search  diligently  before 
finding  a  Greek  or  a  Latin  word.  In  reality  the  methods  which 
Du  Bellay  and  Ronsard  indicated  for  the  enrichment  of  the 
poetic  vocabulary  were  twofold  :  (i)  the  adoption  of  existing 
words  hitherto  neglected,  such  as  archaisms,  provincialisms 
and  the  technical  terms  of  various  trades1;  (ii)  the  formation 
of  new  words  whether  from  Greek  or  Latin,  or  from  French 
sources.  To  the  formation  from  disused  French  words  Ronsard 
gave  the  picturesque  name  of  provignement,  the  technical 
term  for  the  layering  of  plants2.  Now  all  these  methods  of 
adding  to  the  vocabulary  are  perfectly  legitimate,  and  it 
only  depends  upon  whether  they  are  used  with  discretion. 
This  discretion  Ronsard  and  Du  Bellay  not  only  preached, 
but  on  the  whole  practised.  Whether  they  would  have  done 
so  without  the  criticisms  that  were  freely  directed  against 
their  youthful  essays  is  another  matter  ;  and  it  is  noteworthy 
that  Ronsard  in  one  of  the  last  poems  he  ever  wrote,  the  Caprice 
a  Simon  Nicolas2,  says  as  boldly  as  Du  Bellay  in  the  Deffence: 

Promeine-toy  dans  les  plaines  Attiques, 
Fay  nouveaux  mots,  r'appelle  les  antiques, 
Yoy  les   Romains,  et  destine  du  ciel, 
Desrobe,  ainsi  que  les  mouches  a  miel, 
Leurs  belles  fleurs  par  les  Charites  peintes. 
Lors  sans  viser  aux  jalouses  attaintes 
Des  mal-vueillans,  formes-en  les  douceurs 
Que  Melpomene  inspire  dans  les  cceurs  ! 
J'ay  fait  ainsi  :    toutesfois  ce  vulgaire, 
A  qui  jamais  je  n'ay  peu  satisfaire, 
Ny  n'ay  voulu,  me  fascha  tellement 
De  son  japper  en  mon  adventment, 

1  Tu  n'oublieras  les  noms  propres  des  outils  de  tons  mestiers  et  prendras  plaisir 
a  fenquerir  le  phis  que  tu  pourras,  et  principalement  de  la  chasse.  (Ronsard, 
Abrege,  CEuvres,  VII.  321.) 

2  Si  les  vieux  mots  abolis  par  usage  out  laisse  quelque  rejetton,...tu  le  pourras 
provtgfier.  {Preface  sur  la  Franciade,  ib.  in.  33.)  Cf.  Abrege',  vn.  n?.  For 
Du  Bellay 's  views  on  vocabulary  see  Deffence,  II.  c.  vi. 

3  CEuvres,  VI.  326.  The  reference  to  Henry  of  Navarre  as  the  heir  to  the 
throne  shews  that  it  must  have  been  written  after  the  death  of  Alencon  in  June 
1584.      It  was  not  published  in  Ronsard's  lifetime. 


XVII]  THE    LESSER    STARS  20. 

Ouand  je  hantay  les  eaux  de  Castalie, 
Que  nostre  langue  en  est  moins  embellie  ; 
Car  elle  est  manque,  et  faut  de  Taction 
Pour  la  conduire  a  sa  perfection. 

Indeed  some  of  his  followers,  especially  Bai'f,  were  not 
so  ready  to  submit  to  the  compromise  which  common  sense 
dictated.  But  whatever  were  Ronsard's  reasons  the  number 
of  words  of  Greek  or  Latin  formation  which  he  invented  and 
which  have  since  dropped  out  of  the  vocabulary  is  relatively 
very  small1.  On  the  other  hand  he  drew  far  more  largely 
from  the  older  French  language,  but  the  majority  of  his 
archaic  introductions  failed  to  keep  their  place.  He  is  not 
however  the  only  poet  against  whom  this  charge  can  be 
brought. 

The  reforms  of  the  Pleiad  in  the  matter  of  syntax  are  less 
defensible.  There  is  nothing  to  object  to  in  the  compound 
epithets  formed  with  a  verb  and  a  substantive,  such  as  porte- 
lance  and  rase-terre*,  but  the  attempt  to  force  French  syntax 
into  a  classical  mould  by  such  methods  as  the  use  of  the 
adjective  as  an  adverb  was  doomed  to  failure.  These  however 
were  not  peculiar  to  the  Pleiad ;  Rabelais,  for  instance,  practised 
them  freely. 

Passing  from  vocabulary  and  syntax  to  the  general  question 
of  style  it  must  be  noticed  that  the  Pleiad  in  their  endeavours 
to  create  a  poetical  style  distinct  from  that  of  prose  somewhat 
overshot  the  mark.  They  were  too  fond  of  periphrasis,  and 
they  were  too  much  afraid  of  using  common  words!  Un- 
fortunately it  was  just"  these  exaggerations  of  their  theory 
which  commended  themselves  to  the  unpoetical  minds  of  their 

1  M.  Mellerio  reckons  two  or  three  hundred,  including  proper  names  and  their 
derivates  and  compound  adjectives  formed  in  the  Greek  fashion,  in  over  80,000 
lines,  {op.  cit.  p.  xlvi.)  In  Marty-Laveaux's  glossary  of  the  Pleiad,  which,  though 
it  does  not  pretend  to  be  exhaustive,  may  be  taken  as  representative,  Greek  words 
occupy  40  pages,  Latin  76,  archaisms  142,  and  technical  terms  61. 

2  For  these  compounds  see  H.  Estienne,  Precellence,  pp.  152  ff. 

3  Excmple  des  ?nauvais  vers : 

Madame,  en  bonne  foy,  je  vous  donne  mon  cceur; 
N'usez  point  envers  moy,  s'il  vous  plaist,  de  rigueur. 
Efface  cceur  et  rigueur,  ///  in-  trouveras  un  seul  mot  qui  tie  soil  vulgaire  on 
trivial.     (Ronsard,  Pre/,  sur  la  Franciade,  ill.  30.) 


30  THE   LESSER   STARS  [CH. 

successors.  On  the  other  hand  the  essential  part  of  their 
reform,  the  cultivation  of  the  imagination,  was  entirely  over- 
looked. For  thejvork  of  the  Pleiad  may  be  described  even 
more  accurately  as  the  creation  of  imaginative  poetry  than_as 
the  creation  of  noble  poetry1. 

The  defects  of  the  school  are  tolerably  obvious.  In  the 
first  place  the  writers  studied  literature  too  much,  and  life  too 
little.  It  was  literature,  and  not  life,  which  inspired  many  of 
their  happiest  efforts2.  They  would  probably  have  argued 
that  so  long  as  the  style  was  their  own  it  did  not  matter  if 
the  ideas  were  borrowed.  Unfortunately  even  the  style  of 
many  of  the  lesser  writers  is  not  so  much  their  own  as  one 
common  to  the  whole  school. 

A  second  defect,  which  is  closely  allied  to  the  first,  is  the 
contempt  which  they  entertained  and  _e2cpjresseci_fox^th£..din- 
learned  multitude.  Bastier  de  la  Peruse  was  only  voicing 
the  sentiments  of  the  whole  school  when  he  wrote : 

J'ay  cache  dix  mille  vers 

rieins  de  graces  nompareilles, 

Qui  ne  seront  descouvers 

Que  pour  les  doctes  oreilles. 

Le  vulgaire  populace 

Ne  merite  telle  grace, 

Et  la  grand'  tourbe  ignorante 

N'est  digne  qu'on  les  luy  chante  : 

Car  Apollon  ne  veut  pas 

Que  celuy  qu'il  favorise 

Ses  vers  divins  profanise 

Les  chantant  au  peuple  bas3. 

But  the  greatest  poetry  appeals  alike  to  the  learned  and 
the  unlearned.  While  Ronsard  and  his  disciples  success- 
fully vindicated  the  claims  of  the  vernacular  language  to  a 

1  The  services  of  the  Pleiad  to  versification  have  already  been  pointed  out 
in  connexion  with  Ronsard,  to  whom  they  were  chiefly  due. 

2  The  theory  of  imitation,  which  Du  Bellay  preaches  so  imperiously  in  the 
Deffence,  is  stated  in  a  more  moderate  form  in  his  preface  to  U  Olive ',  and  more 
moderately  still  by  Peletier  in  his  Art  Poetique :    Par  settle  imitation  rien  ne  se 

fait  grand:  c'est  le  fait  d'un  homme  paresseux  et  de  peu  de  cosur,  de  marcher  ious- 
jours  apres  tin  autre.     (Cited  by  Chamard,  p.  24.) 

3  GLuvres  choisies  des  poetes  francais  du  xvie  siecle,  p.  150. 


XVII]  THE    LESSER    STARS  3 1 

hearing,  they  failed  through  a  want  of  sympathy  with  the 
pulse  of  the  nation  to  create  a  thoroughly  national  poetry. 
From  one  obvious  blemish  at  any  rate  they  would  have  been 
saved  by  a  greater  regard  for  the  grand'  tourbe  igtiorante, 
and  that  is  from  the  abuse  of  classical  learning  and  classical 
mythology,  in  a  word  from  the  pedantry  which  is  only 
another  form  of  provincialism. 

Thirdly,  in  spite  of  their  too  exclusive  devotion  to  form 
their  execution  is  often  careless.  They  are  too  easily  satisfied 
with  their  work,  they  lack  the  habit  of  rigorous  self-criticism. 
Claiming  to  be  above  all  things  artists,  they  forget  that  an 
essential  quality  of  a  true  artist  is  perfect  craftmanship. 
From  this  reproach,  indeed,  Belleau,  and  to  a  considerable 
extent  Ronsard,  must  be  excepted.  And  even  with  the 
majority  of  Ronsard's  followers  it  is  chiefly  in  their  execution 
of  longer  pieces  that  they  fail.  They  can  take  pains  with 
a  sonnet  or  a  short  lyric,  but  when  it  comes  to  a  more  pro- 
longed effort  they  lose  patience,  and  scamp  their  work.  They 
did  not  realise  that  that  immortality  for  which  they  all 
thirsted,  and  to  which  the  least  among  them  looked  forward 
with  such  confident  expectation,  is  not  to  be  had  on  so  easy 
terms.  Yet  Du  Bellay,  though  he  did  not  always  practise 
what  he  preached,  had  warned  them  that  qui  desire  vivre  en 
la  memoire  de  la  Posterite,  doit,  commc  mart  en  soy  mesme, 
siier  et  trembler  maintesfois1. 

It  is  not  merely  that  they  allow  themselves  too  much 
licence  in  language  and  versification.  This  is  a  comparatively 
venial  fault.  But  they  write  too  fluently  and  too  easily, 
without  having  sufficiently  refined  their  ideas  in  the  crucible 
of  imagination,  without  having  transmuted  the  rough  ore 
into  the  gold  of  poetry.  They  go  on  writing  after  their 
inspiration  is  exhausted,  and  as  a  rule  inspiration  comes  to 
them  only  in  short  breaths. 

These  then  are  the  defects  of  the  school  as  a  whole, 
the  substitution  of  literature  for  life  as  the  source  of  inspira- 
tion, the  want  of  sympathy  with  the  thoughts  and  aims_oF 
the  nation  at  large,  and  a  lack  of  rigorous  self-criticism.    And 

1  Deffcnce,  II.  c.  iii. 


32  THE    LESSER   STARS  [CH. 

the  very  fact  of  its  being  a  school  helped  to  produce  these 
defects,  for  solidarity  is  a  hindrance  to  originality,  and  .mutual 
admiratioiT_JJs  fatal  to  self-criticism.  On  the  other  hand  we 
must  not  forget  that  the  repetition  of  the  same  defects  in  so 
many  writers  forces  them  upon  our  attention.  It  is  by  its 
best  work  and  not  by  its  failures  that  the  Pleiad  must  in  all 
fairness  be  judged.  If  it  has  produced  no  great  national 
poem,  if  even  its  best  work  is  neither  deeply  passionate  nor 
daringly  imaginative,  it  has  enriched  poetry  with  many 
examplesjof  rare  beauty  and  excellence,  models  of  grace  and 
"Harmony. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Editions. 

Pontus  de  Tyard,  Erreurs  amoureuses^  1549.  Continuation  des 
Erreurs  amoureuses,  1 5  5 1,  and  two  other  volumes.  Les  CEnvres poetiques, 
1573.  CEuvres,  ed.  Ch.  Marty- Laveaux  (in  Pleiade  franqaise,  with  Dorat), 
1875. 

R.EMY  BELLEAU,  Bergerie,  1572  (Le  Petit,  p.  95).  Les  amours  et 
nouveaux  eschanges  des  pierres  precieuses,  1576  (Picot,  1.  no.  694).  Les 
CEuvres poetiques,  1585  [ib.  no.  690)  ;  ed.  Gouverneur  {Bib.  elze'v.),  3  vols. 
1867  ;  ed.  Ch.  Marty-Laveaux  (in  Pleiade  francaise),  2  vols.  1878. 

Jean-Antoine  de  Ba'if,  Les  Amours,  1552.  Quatre  livres  de 
F Amour  de  Francine,  1555.  Le  p7-emier  des  mcte'ores,  1567.  Le  Brave, 
1567.  Euvres  en  rime,  4  vols.  1572-3  (Le  Petit,  p.  86;  Picot,  I. 
no.  684).  Etrenes  de  poezie  fratisoeze  en  vers  mezure's,  1574  (Le  Petit, 
p.  91).  Les  Mimes,  enseignements  et  proverbes  (book  i.),  1576  (Picot,  I. 
no.  687);  Les  Mimes  (books  i.  and  ii.),  1581  ;  Mimes,  ed.  P.  Blanchemain, 
2  vols.  1880.  CEuvres,  ed.  Ch.  Marty-Laveaux  (in  Pleiade  francaise), 
5  vols.  1881-1890.  Poesies  choisies,  ed.  L.  Becq  de  Fouquieres,  1874  (with 
a  bibliography,  pp.  xxxiv  ff.). 

Olivier  de  Magny,  Les  Amours,  1553.  Les  Gayetes,  1554.  Les 
Souspirs,  1557.  Les  Odes,  1559.  All  these  have  been  separately  edited  by 
E.  Courbet,  together  with  Dernieres  Poesies,  making  altogether  6  vols, 
(two  for  the  Odes),  1871-1880  ;  and  by  P.  Blanchemain,  1869-1876. 

Jacques  Tahureau,  Premieres  poesies,  1554.  Sonnets,  odes  et  mi- 
gnardises  amoureuses  de  VAdmiree,  1554.  Poesies,  ed.  P.  Blanchemain, 
2  vols.  1870.     Les  dialogues,  1565  ;  ed.  F.  Conscience,  1870. 

Louise  Labe,  Euvres,  1555  (Le  Petit,  p.  75);  ed.  P.  Blanchemain, 
1875;  ed.  Ch.  Boy,  2  vols.  1887. 

Marc-Claude  de  Buttet,  Amalthee,  1560.  CEuvres  poetiques,  ed. 
A.  P.  Soupe,  1877;  ed.  P.  Lacroix,  2  vols.  1880. 


XVII]  THE   LESSER   STARS  33 

Jean  Doublet,  Les  Elegies,  1559;  ed.  P.  Blanchemain,  1869;  in  Cab. 
du  Bibliophile,  187 1. 

Nicolas  Ellain,  Sonnets,  1561.  CEuvres  poetiques,  ed.  A.  Genty, 
1861. 

Jacques  de  Fouilloux,  Venerie  ou  Traite  de  la  Chasse,  1562. 

Estienne  DE  LA  Bo£tie,  Vers  francois,  1 57 1.  CEuvres  completes,  ed. 
P.  Bonnefons,  1892. 

SCEVOLE  DE  Sainte-Marthe,  Les  premieres  ceuvres,  1569  (Picot,  I. 
no.  715);  Les  oeuvres,  1579  (ib.  no.  716). 

Amadis  Jamyn,  Les  CEuvres  poetiques,  1575  (Picot,  1.  no.  738).  Le 
Second  Volume  des  CEuvres,  1584.  Ed.  C.  Brunet,  2  vols.  1878  (a  selection 
only). 

All  the  above,  except  Baif,  Doublet,  and  Fouilloux,  are  represented  in 
L.  Becq  de  Fouquieres.  CEuvres  choisies  des  poetes  francais  du  xvie  siecle 
contemporazns  de  Ronsard,  1879.  The  selection  from  each  poet  is  pre- 
ceded by  a  brief  notice  of  his  life  and  writings. 

Biographies  and  Studies. 

C.-A.  Sainte-Beuve,  Tableau  de  la poe'sie  francaise.  H.  F.  Cary,  Early 
French  Poets.  J. -P.  Abel  Jeandet,  Pontus  de  Tyard,  i860.  F.  Flamini, 
Du  role  de  P.  de  Tyard  dans  le  Petrarquisme  francais  in  Rev.  de  la  Ren.  I. 
43  ff.  R.  Besser,  Ueber  R.  Belleaus  Steingedicht  in  Zeitsch.  fiir  franz. 
Spr.  VIII.  184 — 250,  1886.  H.  Wagner,  R.  Belleau  und  seine  Werke^ 
Leipsic,  1890.  H.  Nagel,  Das  Leben  J.-A.  de  Baif's  in  Archiv  fiir  neueren: 
Spr.  und  Litt.  LX.  240  ff.,  1878,  and  Die  Werke  J.-A.  de  Baif's,  ib.  LXK 
52  ff.,  201  ff.,  439  ff.,  1879.  E.  Fremy,  EAcadcmie  des  derniers  Valois., 
1887.  J.  Favre,  Olivier  de  Magny,  1885.  H.  Chardon,  La  vie  de 
Tahureau,   1885. 


T.  II. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

THE  SECOND  GENERATION 

We  have  seen  that  the  founders  of  the  Pleiad  had  sat  at 
the  feet  of  the  Greek  professor,  Jean  Dorat,  and  had  imbibed 
from  his  stimulating  lectures  a  boundless  enthusiasm  for 
the  masterpieces  of  Greek  literature.  We  have  seen  that 
Ronsard's  most  cherished  models,  at  any  rate  in  theory,  were 
Homer  and  Pindar,  and  that  in  the  original  preface  to  the 
Fraiiciade  he  professed  to  have  modelled  his  work  rather  on 
the  naive  spontaneity  {facilite)  of  Homer  than  on  the  careful 
(curieuse)  diligence  of  Virgil1.  Yet  in  the  _Fzanciade  the 
imitation  of  Virgil  is  in  reality  more  conspicuous  than  that  of 
Homer,  and  in  the  posthumous  preface  which  treats  of  the 
heroic  poem  in  general  Homer  is  barely  mentioned,  while 
Virgil  and  his  'divine  Al?ieid'  are  praised  to  the  skies2. 
What  were  the  causes  of  this  change  in  his  ideals  ? 

In  the  first  place  it  was  due  to  the  simple  fact  that  the 
French  nation  belongs  to  the  Latin  race.  The  affinities  which 
Henri  Estienne  •  pointed  out  between  the  French  and  the 
Greek  language  do  no  doubt  exist,  though  they  are  scarcely 
those  on  which  he  insists  ;  but  at  bottom  the  character  alike 
of  language  and  literature  is  essentially  Latin.  Thus  when 
after  half-a-century  of  Hellenism  that  process  of  Latinisation, 
which  had  begun  as  far  back  as  the  fourteenth  century,  once 
more  resumed  its  natural  course,  French  literature  returned  as 
;it  were  from  its  foster  parent  to  its  natural  mother.  Even 
from  the  first  the  poets  of  the  Pleiad  had  drunk  largely  of 

1   CEnvres,  III.  9.  -  ib.  22  ff. 


CH.  XVIII]  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  35 

_Latin  inspiration.  We  have  seen  how  important  a  part  both 
the  vernacular  and  the  neo-Latin  poetry  of  Italy  had  played 
in  their  developement,  and  that  one  among  them  at  least, 
Joachim  du  Bella}%  not  only  turned  by  preference  to  Latin 
models,  but  in  his  warm  feelings,  his  passionate  eagerness,  his 
observation  of  the  outward  aspect  of  things,  was  at  heart  a 
true  Latin. 

Thus  the  phase  of  Hellenic  influence,  all  important  though 
it  was  while  it  lasted,  was  of  short  duration.  Being  an  exotic 
it  required  artificial  care,  and  this  care,  owing  to  the  rapid 
decay  of  Greek  scholarship  in  France,  was  now  withdrawn. 
Partly  as  the  result  of  the  civil  wars  the  study  of  Greek  in 
France  began  rapidly  to  decline  after  the  fatal  year  1572,  and 
to  be  confined  more  and  more  to  a  narrow  circle  of  scholars. 
*'  Frenchmen,"  says  Ronsard  in  the  posthumous  preface 
referred  to  above,  "  have  more  knowledge  of  Virgil  than  of 
Homer  and  other  Greek  authors1." 

Now  this  decline  in^the  prestige  of  Greek  coincides  more 
or  less  with  the  retirement  of  Ronsard  from  the  Court  in 
1574,  and  so  this  event,  which  practically  closed  Ronsard's 
poetical  career,  may  be  taken  to  mark  the  close  also  of  the 
first  epoch  of  the  Pleiad.  From  this  time  the  uniformity  of 
aim  and  the  solidarity  of  purpose  which  had  characterised  the 
work  of  Ronsard  and  his  more  immediate  contemporaries 
begins  to  disappear,  and  new  developements  arise.  It  was 
not  that  the  younger  poets  consciously  renounced  any  of  the 
poetical  doctrines  of  the  school,  or  ceased  to  regard  Ronsard 
as  '  the  prince  of  poets,'  but  by  the  natural  process  of  time 
some  practices"  came  to  be  exaggerated,  and  others  to  be 
modified,  with  the  result  that  the  stream  of  poetry  which  had 
hitherto  flowed  in  one  broad  channel  now  diverged  into 
separate  currents.  Of  these  currents  the  two  principal  ones 
are  those  which  are  associated  with  the  names  of  Du  Bartas 
and  Dgsportes.  Both  making  their  first  public  appearance  as 
original  poets  in  the  year  1 573,  both  ardent  admirers  and 
close  disciples  of  Ronsard,  "both   exaggerating  some  of  the 

1  See    F.    Brunetiere,    V evolution   des  genres,    1890,   pp.   51 — 53,   but   in   my 
■opinion  he  attributes  too  much  weight  to  the  influence  of  Scaliger's  Poetice. 

3—2 


36  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  [CH. 

defects  of  the  school  while  leading  a  reaction  against  others, 
they  are  at  the  same  time  alike  in  conception  and  execution 
the  complete  opposites  of  each  other. 

i.     Du  Bartas. 

Guillaume  de  Salluste,  seigneur  du^JBartas,  was  born  at 
Montfort,  near  Auch,  the  old  capital  of  Gascony,  in  the  year 
1544.  While  the  poets  with  whom  we  have  hitherto  been 
concerned  revolved  round  Paris  and  the  Court  and  were  warm 
partisans  of  the  Catholic  cause,  Du  Bartas  was  at  once  a 
provincial  and  a  Protestant,  two  circumstances  which  in 
themselves  tended  to  differentiate  his  work  from  that  of  his 
fellow  poets.  But  so  far  as  literary  doctrines  went  he  was  an 
ardent  disciple  of  the  Pleiad,  and  his  first  serious  production 
was  a  response  to  Du  Bellay's  appeal  to  his  countrymen  to 
write  an  epic  poem.  Though  Judith,  as  Du  Bartas'  epic  was 
called,  was  written  in  1565,  when  its  author  was  only  about 
twenty-one,  it  did  not  appear  till  1573,  in  a  volume  published 
at  Bordeaux  and  entitled  La  Muse  Chrestienne.  Its  subject, 
as  well  as  the  title  of  the  volume  in  which  it  appeared, 
already  indicates  one  element  of  opposition  to  the  orthodox 
Ronsardists.  It  is  true  that  the  subject  was  imposed  on 
Du  Bartas  by  Jeanne  d'Albret,  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  but 
he  was  quite  well  aware  of  its  novelty,  and  in  the  preface  he 
speaks  of  himself  as  the  first  French  writer  to  treat  of  a  sacred 
subject  in  a  long  poem.  In  another  poem  of  La  Muse 
~~C7irestieu)ie,  entitled  Uranic  ox_J\Iusc  celeste,  he  represents  the 
Muse  as  inveighing  against  those  who  profane  the  divine  use 
of  poetry  by  applying  it  to  frivolous  and  immoral  purposes  : 

Je  ne  puis  d'un  ceil  sec  voir  que  l'on  mette  en  vente 
Nos  divines  chansons  et  que  d'un  flateur  vers, 
Pour  gagner  la  faveur  des  Princes  plus  pervers, 
Un  Commode,  un   Neron,  un  Caligule  on  vante. 

She  bids  him  devote  himself  to  religious  poetry,  and  accord- 
ingly in  obedience  to  this  call  he  produced  in  1578  a  long 
poem  on  the  Creation  entitled^Zc?  Semaine.  It  was  received 
with  enormous  enthusiasm.     Twenty  editions  were  published 


XVIII]  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  37 

in  five  years,  and  it  was  translated  into  several  languages. 
The  French  Protestants  were  especially  loud  in  its  praise. 
They  welcomed  it  as  a  counterpoise  to  the  semi-pagan  and 
frivolous  Court  poetry  of  Ronsard  and  his  immediate  followers, 
which  had  recently  culminated  in  the  apotheosis  of  the 
mignons  by  Desportes  and  Jamyn.  They  proclaimed  Du 
Bartas  to  be  Ronsard's  superior,  and  even  whispered  that 
Ronsard  himself  had  acknowledged  the  fact.  In  a  fine  sonnet 
the  elder  poet  indignantly  denied  both  assertions : 

lis  ont  menty,  D'Aurat,  ceux  qui  le  veulent  dire, 
Que  Ronsard,  dont  la  Muse  a  contente  les  Rois, 
Soit  moins  que  le  Bartas,  et  qu'il  ait  par  sa  voix 
Rendu  ce  tesmoignage  ennemy  de  sa  lyre  ! 

lis  ont  menti,  D'Aurat!   si  bas  je  ne  respire; 
Je  sgay  trop  qui  je  suis,  et  mille  et  mille  fois 
Mille  et  mille  tourmens  plustost  je  souffrirois, 
Ou'un  adveu  si  contraire  au  nom  que  je  desire. 

lis  ont  menty,   D'Aurat  !  c'est  une  invention 
Qui  part,  a  mon  advis,  de  trop  d'ambition. 
J'auroy  menty  moy-mesme  en  le  faisant  paroistre  ; 

Francus  en  rougiroit,  et  les  neuf  belles  Sceurs 
Qui  tremperent  mes  vers  dans  leurs  graves  douceurs, 
Pour  un  de  leurs  enfans  ne  me  voudroient  cognoistre1. 

In  1584  Du  Bartas  began  the  publication  of  La  seconde 
Semaine.  It  was  to  be  a  vast  poem  representing  the  Biblical 
history  of  humanity  down  to  the  Last  Judgment.  The  first 
instalment  contained  two  Days,  each  Day  being  divided  into 
four  parts.  But  the  poem  was  never  finished.  When  it  was 
published  after  Du  Bartas's  death,  the  fourth  Day,  which  was 
to  end  with  the  capture  of  Jerusalem  by  Nebuchadnezzar, 
was  still  incomplete. 

The  work  had  been  interrupted  by  more  pressing  occu- 
pations. From  1586  Du  Bartas  was  employed  by  the  King 
of  Navarre  on  various  missions,  including  one  in  1587  to 
England  and  Scotland.  In  the  latter  country  he  received  a 
warm  welcome  from  the  royal  pedant,  James  VI,  who  had 
translated  his  Urania1,  and  who  now  wrote  to  congratulate  his 

1  Ronsard,  (Euvres,  v.  348. 

2  Apparently  about  1585,  though   it  was  not  published  till  1591  ;  it  is  printed 


$8  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  [CH. 

brother  of  Navarre  on  having  in  his  service  so  rare  and  virtuous 
a  person1.  On  his  return  to  France  Du  Bartas  commanded  a 
troop  of  horse  and  saw  some  fighting.  His  last  poem  was 
written  to  celebrate  the  victory  of  Ivry,  in  which,  however, 
he  did  not  take  part.  In  the  following  July  (1590)  he  died 
from  over-fatigue  and  neglected  wounds2.  He  was  a  sincere, 
modest  and  high-minded  gentleman3. 

After  his  death  his  renown  steadily  decreased.  The 
magnificent  folio  edition  of  his  works  published  at  Paris  in 
161 1  may,  to  use  Sainte-Beuve's  words,  be  regarded  as  their 
tomb.  It  is  true  that  a  later  edition  was  published  at  Geneva 
in  1632  and  that  Joshua  Sylvester's  translation  was  very 
popular  in  England4  down  to  the  Restoration5,  but  this  was  in 
Protestant  countries.  In  France  Du  Bartas  was  ignored  by 
Boileau  as  he  already  had  been  ignored  by  Malherbe,  and 
there  has  been  no  real  reversal  of  this  verdict.  Notre  Milton 
manque6  is  the  most  recent  appreciation  that  has  been  passed 
on  him,  and  it  aptly  expresses  at  once  the  grandeur  and 
nobility  of  his  aims  and  the  failure  of  his  accomplishment. 

There  can  be  little  question  as  to  the  actual  merits  and 
defects  of  Du  Bartas's  work,  however  critics  may  differ  in 
striking  the  balance.  It  consists  of  fine  passages  interspersed 
among  long  wastes  of  dull  and  tiresome  poetry.  Even  the 
best  passages  are  generally  blemished  by  serious  errors  in 
taste.      But  they  are  marked  by  elevation  of  thought,  vigour 

in  Arber's  English  Reprints.     It  was  by  order  of  James  that  T.  Hudson  translated 
Jtidith  (1582). 

1  Letter  from  James  VI  of  Scotland  to  the  King  of  Navarre  (printed  by  T.  de 
Larroque,  Vies  des  poetes  gaseous,  p.  96). 

2  De  Thou,  x.  ix. 

3  De  Thou,  XCIX.  xvii,  speaks  of  his  modesty  and  candour. 

4  "There  be  some  French  poets  which  afford  excellent  entertainment, 
especially  Du  Bartas,"  Howell's  Foreign   Travel,    1650. 

5  Sylvester  translated  the  Cantiqne  d'lvry  in  1590,  and  fragments  of  the 
Seconde  Semaine  in  1592.  The  first  collected  edition  of  his  various  translations  of 
Du  Bartas  appeared  in  1605-6.  and  a  nearly  complete  edition  in  1621  under  the 
title  of  Du  Bartas,  his  divine  Weekes  and  Works  with  a  Compleate  Collection  of  all 
the  other  most  delightful  Workes  translated  and  written  by  ye  famous  Philomusus, 
Joshua  Sylvester,  Gent,  (printed  by  Humphray  Lownes).  There  is  a  copy  of  this 
edition  in  the  Cambridge  University  Library,  but  not  in  the  Brit.  Mus. 

6  P.  Morillot  in  Petit  de  Julleville,  III.  225. 


XVIII]  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  39 

and  movement,  and  above  all  by  imagination  of  the  highest 
ordejvthe  imagination  which  is  at  once  lofty  and  penetrative, 
which  can  soar  to  transcendental  heights,  or  illumine  with 
a  touch  the  ordinary  phenomena  of  nature.  Such  are  the 
description  of  the  winds  and  of  the  signs  of  God's  power  in 
the  second  Day  of  La  Semaine,  the  praise  of  Gascony  and  of 
country  life  in  the  third  Day. 

But  imagination  is  not  the  quality  which  appeals  most 
strongly  to  French  critics.  On  the  other  hand  they  are  more 
keenly  alive  than  any  foreign  critic  is  likely  to  be  to  the 
defective  execution,  the  signs  of  provincialism  and  bad  taste 
which  are  too  common  in  Du  Bartas's  work.  Even  supposing 
that  his  execution  had  been  uniformly  good  he  would  still  have 
failed  to  write  a  good  epic  poem.  It  is  not  surprising  that 
his  youthful  production,  Judith,  should  shew  neither  power  of 
characterisation  nor  knowledge  of  mankind.  But  even  in 
this  first  attempt  it  is  significant  that  he  is  at  his  best  in 
descriptive  and  rhetorical  passages,  and  at  his  worst  in 
narrative.  So  in  the  Semaine,  the  subject  of  which  was 
better  suited  to  him  because  it  does  not  deal  with  human 
beings,  the  narrative  is  confused,  and  the  general  composition 
bad.  There  is  too  much  learning,  too  much  accumulation  of 
detail  ;  the  poem  often  degenerates  into  a  scientific  primer, 
or  becomes  a  mere  catalogue  of  names.  La  seconde  Semaine, 
in  which  the  author's  faults  are  exaggerated,  is  a  mere 
encyclopaedia1.  No,  Du  Bartas  could  never  have  become  an 
epic  poet2. 

But  he  might  have  written  a  poem  like  the  Georgics.  He 
had  the  moral  earnestness  of  Virgil,  and  he  had  the  same 
passionate  attachment  to  his  native  land,  to  the  actual  land 
itself.  Moreover  in  his  descriptions  of  nature  he  surpasses 
the  other  poets  of  the  Pleiad  school,  even  Ronsard  and 
Belleau,  not  only  in  imaginative  breadth,  but  in  the  accuracy 

1  For  the  analogy  between  the  Seconde  Semaine  and  Sceve's  Microcosme,  see 
Pellissier,  pp.  79  ff. 

2  It  should  be  pointed  out  that  Du  Bartas  himself  says  that  the  Semaine  is  not 
a  true  epic  poem,  but  is  in  part  panegyrical,  in  part  prophetic,  in  part  didactic 
(Preface). 


40  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  [CH. 

of  his  observation.  It  is  characteristic  that,  while  the  other 
poets  with  wearisome  iteration  compare  human  life  to  the 
rose,  he  should  have  chosen  the  flax,  a  much  shorter-lived 
flower,  for  his  simile : 

La  fleur  du  lin  qui  naist  et  tombe 
Tout  en  un  meme  jour. 

The  following  description  of  a  'bleeding'  vine  testifies  to 
his  knowledge  of  country  pursuits  : 

Comme  le  sarment 
Qu'on  a  taille*  trop  tard  distille  lentement 
Mainte  larme  emperle'e. 

As  specimens  of  his  style  in  longer  passages  we  may  take 
one  from  the  well-known  description  of  the  rival  nightingales, 
and  one  from  the  praise  of  country  life  : 

O  Dieu  !    combien  de  fois  sous  les  feuilleus  rameaus 

Et  des  chesnes  ombreus  et  des  ombreus  ormeaus, 

J'ay  tache"  marier  mes  chansons  immorteles 

Aux  plus  mignars  refrains  de  leurs  chansons  plus  beles. 

II  me  semble  qu'encor  j'oy  dans  un  vert  buisson 

D'un  scavant  rossignol  la  tremblante  chanson  : 

Qui  tenant  or  la  taille,  ores  la  haute-contre, 

Or  le  mignard  dessus,  ore  la  basse-contre, 

Or  toutes  quatre  ensemble,  apele  par  le  bois 

Au  combat  des  neuf  Sceurs  les  mieus  disantes  vois. 

A  trente  pas  de  la,  sous  les  feuilles  d'un  charme 

Un  autre  rossignol  redit  le  mesme  carme, 

Puis  volant  avec  luy  pour  l'honneur  etriver 

Chante  quelque  motet  pourpense"  tout  l'hiver. 

Le  premier  luy  replique,  et  d'un  divin  ramage 

Ajoute  a  son  dous  chant  passage  sur  passage, 

Fredon  dessus  fredon,  et  leurs  gosiers  plaintifs 

Dependent  toute  l'aube  en  vers  alternatifs1. 


O  trois  et  quatre  fois  heureus  cil  qui  s'eloigne 
Des  troubles  citadins,  qui,  prudent,  ne  se  soigne 
Des  emprises  des  Rois  :  ains  servant  a  Cere's, 
Remue  de  ses  bceufs  les  paternels  gueres. 
La  venimeuse  dent  de  la  blafarde  Envie, 
Ni  l'avare  Souci  ne  travaillent  sa  vie, 

1   CEuvres,  ed.  i6ii,  p.  153. 


XVIII]  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  41 

Des  bornes  de  son  champ  son  desir  est  borne"... 
Les  trompeurs  Chicaneurs  (harpies  des  parquets 
Et  sangsues  du  peuple)  avecques  leurs  caquets, 
Bavardement  facheus,  la  teste  ne  lui  rompent : 
Ains  les  peints  oiselets  les  plus  durs  ennuis  trompent, 
Enseignant  chasque  jour  aux  dous-flairans  buissons 
Les  plus  divins  couplets  de  leurs  douces  chansons... 
Passant  dans  le  repos  tous  les  jours  de  son  aage, 
II  ne  perd  tant  soit  peu  de  veue  son  vilage, 
Ne  connoit  autre  mer,  ne  scait  autre  torrent 
Que  le  riot  cristalin  du  ruisseau  murmurant 
Qui  ses  verts  pres  arrose  :  et  cette  mesme  terre 
Qui  naissant  le  receut,  pitoyable  l'enterre1. 

The  second  passage  is  inspired  by  three  well-known  loa 
dassici  on  the  same  subject,  the  Beatus  Me  qui  procul 
negotiis  of  Horace,  the  O  fortunatos  nimiuvi  of  the  second 
Georgic,  and  the  speech  of  Hippolytus  in  Seneca's  Phcedra*. 
The  direct  reminiscences  of  Horace  and  Seneca  are  more 
numerous  than  those  of  Virgil,  but  the  genuine  emotion  which 
sustains  the  whole  passage  and  prevents  it  from  being  a  mere 
patchwork  shews  that  Du  Bartas  is  at  one  with  the  poet  of 
the  Georgic^ 

It  will  be  noticed  that  both  passages  are  unusually  free 
from  the  bad  taste  which  disfigures  so  much  of  Du  Bartas's 
work.  But  the  epithet  dous-flairans  reminds  us  that  one  of 
the  reproaches  most  frequently  and  on  the  whole  most  justly 
brought  against  him  was  that  he  exaggerated  the  innovations 
of  the  Pleiad  in  the  matter  of  vocabulary,  and  especially  in 
the  use  of  compound  epithets.  In  the  preface  which  he 
prefixed  to  the  Seconde  Semaine3  he  admits  in  answer  to 
his  critics  that  he  had  used  these  epithets  somewhat  freely 
in  the  first  Semaine,  but  he  defends  himself  on  the  ground 
that  they  often  save  a  whole  line,  or  even  two4.  No  doubt 
that  is  what  happens  to  all  writers  who  use  compound 
epithets    and    other    neologisms  ;    they    call    it    economy    of 

1  (Euvres,  p.  240. 

2  See  for  references  to  the  parallel  passages  Pellissier,  op.  cit.  142  ff. 

3  In  the  i6ro-n  edition  it  is  printed  as  a  preface  to  the  original  Semaine. 

4  See  Pellissier,  op.  eit.  185  ff. 


42  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  [CH. 

language,  whereas  more  often  it  is  economy  of  thought. 
But  it  is  a  practice  which  can  only  be  justified  by  success, 
and  to  ensure  this  the  epithet  should  be  such  as  to  impress 
itself  vividly  upon  the  imagination. 

Another  innovation  which  Du  Bartas  claims  as  his  own 
invention  is  the  reduplication  of  words  for  the  sake  of 
increased  effect,  such  as  jlo-jlotter,  ba-battre,  soii-sonffler, 
bra-branler.  Though  he  uses  these  very  sparingly1,  their 
existence  at  all  is  sufficient  to  shew  that  he  was  utterly 
wanting  in  one  of  the  essentials  of  self-criticism,  a  sense  of 
the  ridiculous.  It  is  from  a  lack  of  this  sense  that  the  fine 
panegyric  on  France  at  the  close  of  Les  colonies,  the  third  part 
of  the  second  Day  of  the  Seconde  Semaine,  degenerates  into 
an  expression  of  gratitude  at  the  absence  of  crocodiles,  lions, 
and  hippopotamuses.  However,  as  Du  Bartas's  patriotism  is 
a  note  which  is  a  distinguishing  feature  not  only  of  his  own 
poetry  but  of  much  of  the  literature  of  the  last  twenty  years 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  my  final  selection  shall  be  the  lines 
which  immediately  precede  this  lamentable  conclusion  : 

O  mille  et  mille  fois  terre  heureuse  et  feconde  ! 
O  perle  de  l'Europe  !     6  Paradis  du  monde  ! 
France,  je  te  salue,  6  mere  des  guerriers  ! 
Qui  jadis  ont  plante  leurs  triomphans  lauriers 
Sur  les  rives  d'Euphrate,  et  sanglant6  leur  glaive 
Ou  la  torche  du  jour  et  se  couche  et  se  leve  : 
Mere  de  tant  d'ouvriers,  qui  d'un  hardi  bon-heur, 
Taschent  comme  obscurcir  de  Nature  l'honneur  : 
Mere  de  tant  d'esprits,  qui  de  scavoir  espuisent 
Egypte,  Grece,  Rome,  et  sur  les  doctes  luisent 
Comme  un  jaune  esclattant  sur  les  pasles  couleurs, 
Sur  les  astres  Phoebus,  et  sa  fleur  sur  les  fleurs. 

Another  Gascon  poet  of  some  repute  in  his  day  was 
Pierre  de  Brach2,  a  native  of  Bordeaux.  He  was  a  common 
friend  of  Montaigne  and  Du  Bartas.  He  made  the  latter's 
acquaintance  at  the  University  of  Toulouse,  and  one  of  his 
most  pleasing  poems,  an  account  of  a  tour  in  Gascony  which 
the  two  young  men  made  together,  contains  a  description  of 

1  Pellissier,  op.  cit.  188  f. 

2  b.  1547.     The  date  of  his  death  is  not  known,  but  he  was  alive  in  1604. 


XVIII]  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  43 

the  chateau  of  Bartas1.  Brach's  poetry  is  of  the  kind  that  a 
high-minded,  well-educated,  intelligent  man,  with  some  gift 
for  versification,  might  be  expected  to  write  in  a  poetic  age. 
It  is  well-expressed,  easy,  and  fairly  harmonious  ;  but  it  stops 
short  of  being  real  poetry,  for  the  breath  of  inspiration  is 
wanting.  Yet  to  the  author's  friends  he  seemed  a  real  poet, 
for  Florimond  de  Raemond,  the  Catholic  historian  of  Pro- 
testantism, after  regretting  that  his  own  want  of  practice 
prevented  him  from  paying  a  tribute  of  verse  to  Montaigne's 
memory,  adds  that  "  only  the  singer  of  Aimee  could  do  justice 
to  so  rich  a  theme2."  De  Brach  indeed  busied  himself  with 
Montaigne's  fame,  but  in  a  more  useful  manner  than  that 
suggested  by  his  friend.  As  the  editor  of  the  posthumous 
edition  of  the  Essays,  he  has  earned  the  gratitude  of  posterity, 
and  this,  rather  than  his  poetry,  is  his  chief  title  to  remembrance. 
Besides  his  original  work  he  translated  Tasso's  Ami/tta3  and 
four  cantos  of  Jerusalem  Delivered*. 

Of  greater  importance  is  Guy  du ,  .Faur^je  Pibrac.  whom 
Montaigne,  after  recording  his  recent  death  in  1584,  describes 
as  un  esprit  si  gentil,  les  opinions  si  saines,  les  mceurs  si  donees^. 
He  was  born  at  Toulouse  in  1529  in  the  same  year  as  Estienne 
Pasquier,  whose  intimate  friend  he  became.  After  a  thorough 
education  in  the  humanities  and  jurisprudence,  under  Bunel, 
Cujas,  and  Alciati,  he  entered  the  magistracy,  when  he  was 
little  more  than  twenty,  as  a  councillor  of  the  Parliament  of 
Toulouse.  In  1562  he  represented  Charles  IX  at  the  Council 
of  Trent,  and  the  rest  of  his  life  was  spent  in  the  service  of 
the  Crown.  It  was  owing  to  his  representations  that  Bai'f's 
Academy  was  revived  by  Henry  III  under  the  name  of 
the  Academie  du  Palais6.      He  was  a  man   of  brilliant  parts 

1  Ed.  Dezeimeris,  11.  176  ff. 

2  Goujet,  xiii.  330.  Aimee  was  the  poetical  name  of  the  lady  to  whom 
Brach's  love-sonnets  were  addressed,  and  who  became  his  wife.  Her  real  name 
was  Anne.  Colletet  says  in  his  life  of  Brach  that  "  he  made  her  name  so  famous 
that  all  France  knew  it." 

3  Published  in  his  Imitations,  Bordeaux,  1 584. 

4  Paris,  1596. 

5  Essais,  111.  ix. 

6  See  Fremy,  op.  cit.  83  ff. 


44  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  [CH. 

and  high  character,  but  with  a  strain  of  weakness  which  led 
him  to  write  an  apology  for  the  massacre  of  St  Bartholomew1. 
He  had  a  great  reputation  as  an  orator,  but  he  is  best  known 
by  his  moral  quatrains,  first  published  in  1574,  which  enjoyed 
an  enormous  popularity  down  to  nearly  the  middle  of  the  eight- 
eenth century2.  They  were  translated  into  various  languages, 
including  Persian,  Arabic,  and  Turkish,  and  were  committed 
to  memory  by  several  generations  of  schoolgirls  and  school- 
boys. Pjbrac  had  had  the  good  sense  or  the  good  fortune 
to  choose  a  form  of  poetry  which  did  not  require  any 
higher  poetic  gift  than  tha^_of_yigorous  and  concentrated 
expression  : 

Ce  que  tu  vois  de  l'homme  n'est  pas  l'homme, 

C'est  la  prison  ou  il  est  enserre", 

C'est  le  tombeau  ou  il  est  enterre, 
Le  lict  branlant  ou  il  dort  un  court  somme. 

Hausse  les  yeux  :    la  voute  suspendue, 
Ce  beau  lambris  de  la  couleur  des  eaux, 
Ce  rond  parfaict  de  deux  globes  jumeaux, 

Ce  firmament  esloigne  de  la  veue, 

Bref,  ce  qui  est,  qui  fut,  et  qui  peut  estre, 
En  terre,  en  mer,  au  plus  cache  des  cieux, 
Si  tost  que  Dieu  l'a  voulu   pour  le  mieux, 

Tout  aussi  tost  il  a  receu  son  estre. 

Le  sage  est  libre  enferre  de  cent  chaines. 

II  est  seul  riche,  et  jamais  estranger  : 

Seul  assure  au  milieu  du  danger, 
Et  le  vray  Roy  des  fortunes  humaines3. 

1  Ornatissimi  cuiusdam  Viri  de  Rebus  Gallicis  ad  Stanislattm  Elvidium 
Epistola,  1573.  Pibrac  adopted  the  official  explanation  that  the  original  cause  of 
the  massacre  was  a  plot  against  the  Crown  by  Coligny  and  his  friends,  and  that 
Charles  IX  ordered  only  the  conspirators  to  be  put  to  death,  but  could  not  restrain 
the  fury  of  the  populace.  In  a  letter  to  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  Hubert  Languet 
partially  defends  Pibrac,  saying  that  he  wrote  the  apology  to  save  his  own  life. 
{The  Correspondence  of  Sidney  and  Languet,  ed.  S.    A.   Pears,   1845,  p.   87.) 

2  The  first  edition  containing  only  50  quatrains  was  published  in  1574;  the 
first  complete  edition,  containing  126,  in  15S3.  Florent  Chrestien  translated  them 
into  Greek  and  Latin  (1584),  Martin  Opitz  into  German,  and  Joshua  Sylvester 
into  English. 

3  Nos.  xi,  xviii,  xix,  lix. 


XVIII]  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  45 

The  following  is  quoted  by  Montaigne  in  support  of  his 
argument  against  constitutional  changes  : 

Ayme  l'estat  tel  que  tu  le  vois  estre  : 

S'il  est  royal,  ayme  la  Royaute'  : 

S'il  est  de  peu,  ou  bien  communaute, 
Ayme  l'aussi,  quand  Dieu  t'y  a   faict  naistre1. 

Ejhxa£»>  like  Du  Bartas,  was  connected  with  the  Court  of 
Nerac,  having  been  for  seventeen  months  (1579 — 1 58 1 ) 
chancellor  to  Margaret,  the  wife  of  Henry  of  Navarre.  His 
unfinished  poem,  Les  plaisirs  de  la  vie  rustique,  also  reminds 
one  of  Du  Bartas,  for,  as  we  have  seen,  it  is  the  sort  of 
poem  that  the  latter  might  successfully  have  attempted.  It 
contains,  as  we  might  expect,  many  reminiscences  of  Virgil, 
and  Horace,  and  other  classical  writers,  but  the  general 
treatment  shews  considerable  independence.  Interesting 
pictures  of  country  life,  with  references  to  the  Court  fashions 
by  way  of  contrast,  are  interspersed  with  sketches  of  peasant 
character  and  various  autobiographical  details.  The  poem 
was  written  in  1573,  the  very  year  in  which  the  new  repre- 
sentative of  the  Court  poetry,  Desportes,  published  the  first 
collected  edition  of  his  poems2. 


2.     Desportes. 

Born  at  Chartres  in  1542  Philippe  Desportes  found  a 
patron  in  Antoine  de  Sennetaire,  the  Bishop  of  Le  Buy,  who 
took  him  to  Italy.  The  familiarity  which  he  there  acquired 
with  Italian  poetry  had,  as  we  shall  see,  a  great  influence  upon 
his  work.  On  his  return  to  France  he  became  intimate  with 
Claude  de  l'Aubespine,  the  son  of  the  well-known  statesman, 
and  himself  in  the  employment  of  Charles  IX.  Through  his 
good  services  Desportes  became  secretary  to  his  brother- 
in-law,  Nicolas  de  Neufville,  Seigneur  de  Villeroy,  who  had 

1  No.  cix.  Essais,  III.  ix.  With  Pibrac's  quatrains  were  frequently  united 
those  of  Antoine  Favre  (1557 — 1624),  a  native  of  Savoy  and  father  of  the 
grammarian  Vaugelas,  and  of  Pierre  Matthieu  (1563 — 1621). 

2  It  was  published  at  Lyons  in  1574. 


46  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  [CH. 

succeeded  the  elder  De  l'Aubespine  as  Secretary  of  State1.  In 
1572  he  presented  to  Charles  IX  a  free  version  of  part  of  the 
O rlatidjLEiudns_o  ;  another  poem  derived  from  the  same  source, 
and  entitled  La  Mart  tie  Rodomont,  procured  him  a  present  of 
eight  hundred  golcTcrowns  from  that  ardent  lover  of  poetry. 
In  the  following  year,  1 573,  he  published  his  Premieres  CEicvres 
in  a  sumptuous  volume,  which  includes  most  of  his  works,  and 
in  which  his  style  appears  to  be  already  fully  developed. 
Soon  after  its  publication  he  accompanied  the  Duke  of  Anjou, 
to  whom  he  had  recommended  himself  by  his  ready  com- 
plaisance, to  his  new  kingdom  of  Poland.  But  nine  months 
of  that  barbarous  country  were  as  much  as  the  pleasure- 
loving  poet  could  endure,  and  he  turned  homeward  just  before 
the  news  arrived  of  the  Duke's  succession  to  the  throne  of 
France.  With  Henry  III  as  king,  Desportes's  star  was  more 
than  ever  in  the  ascendant.  On  the  death  of  the  two  mignons, 
Quelus  and  Maugiron,  as  the  result  of  the  famous  duel  of 
April  26,  1578,  he  celebrated  their  virtues,  as  we  have  seen,  in 
lines  of  extravagant  flattery2,  and  soon  afterwards  found  a 
new  patron  in  their  more  powerful  successor,  Anne  de  Joyeuse. 
He  now  began  to  receive  more  substantial  marks  of  favour 
from  his  royal  master,  who  conferred  on  him  the  abbey  of 
Tiron,  in  the  diocese  of  Chartres,  and  that  of  Bonport,  near 
Rouen.  These  two  benefices  alone,  and  he  had  several 
others,  brought  him  in  an  annual  income  of  30,000  /ivres3. 
On  the  death  of  his  patron,  Joyeuse,  in  the  battle  of  Coutras 
(1587),  he  retired  to  Bonport,  and  when,  after  the  death  of 
Henry  III,  Normandy  was  invaded  by  the  royalist  army,  he 
took  refuge  with  Villars-Brancas,  a  relation  of  Joyeuse,  who 
proceeded  to  seize  Rouen  and  hold  it  for  the  League. 
Desportes  as  usual  obtained  the  complete  confidence  of  his 


1  Claude  de  l'Aubespine  the  elder  died  in  1567,  the  son  in  1570,  to  the  great 
grief  of  Desportes. 

2  See  CEuvres,  ed.  Michiels,  p.  315  {Elegies,  book  ii)  and  p.  477  (epitaph  for 
Maugiron). 

3  See  Regnier,  Sat.  ix.  102,  and  cf.  Sainte-Beuve,  Quand  on  regarde  le  del par 
line  belle  nuif,  on  y  decouvre  etoiles  stir  etoiles  ;  plus  on  regarde  dans  la  vie  de  Des 
Fortes,  et plus  on y  decouvre  dabbayes  [Tableau,  p.  428  n.). 


XVIII]  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  47 

new  patron  and  helped  him  considerably  with  his  advice'. 
In  the  final  negotiations  between  Sully  and  Villars  he  proved 
himself  an  able  diplomatist,  and  it  was  partly  by  his  influence 
that  his  principal  was  brought  to  terms'2.  His  own  share  in 
the  bargain  was  the  restoration  of  his  well-dowered  abbeys, 
with  a  new  one  in  addition3.  The  rest  of  his  days  were  spent 
partly  at  Bonport,  partly  at  his  villa  at  Vanves  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Paris.  Having  enjoyed  this  world  with 
singular  success  he  now  turned  his  thoughts  heavenwards  and 
occupied  himself  with  finishing  his  translation  of  the  Psalms, 
of  which  he  had  already  published  sixty  in  15914.  He  was 
offered  the  archbishopric  of  Bordeaux,  but  declined  it  on  the 
ground  that  he  did  not  wish  to  take  upon  himself  the  charge 
of  souls.  "  But,  your  monks  ?  "  "  My  monks  !  they  have  not 
any."  He  was  better  suited  to  the  part  which  he  preferred  to 
play  of  a  liberal  Maecenas  to  less  fortunate  men  of  letters. 
His  table  and  his  library  were  always  at  their  service,  and  he 
did  them  many  acts  of  kindness.  When  he  died  in  1606  the 
numerous  epitaphs  and  other  panegyrics  that  were  written  in 
his  honour  were  at  any  rate  expressions  of  genuine  regret. 
No  one  had  envied  the  prosperity  of  a  man  who  was  as 
incapable  of  pride  as  he  was  of  shame5. 

It  is  of  a  piece  with  Desportes's  character,  with  his  talent 
for  utilising  all  the  resources  at  his  command,  that  he  should 
have  been  a  skilful  plagiarist.  He  avowed  it  frankly.  When 
at  the  close  of  his  life  some  one  published  a  book  under  the 
title  of  La  rencontre  des  Muses  de  France  et  d'ltalie,  in  which  his 
plagiarisms  were  set  forth,  he  merely  said  that  the  author  had 
better  have  consulted  him,  for  he  could  have  added  to  the  list6. 

1  Palma  Cayet,  Chronologie  novenaire,  1608,  i.  500  r°. 

2  See  Mhnoires  de  Sully ;  book  vi.  It  must  have  been  as  the  protigi  of  Joyeuse 
that  he  is  called  the  poete  de  VAmirauti  in  the  Satire  Menippee,  for  Villars  had  not 
been  made  admiral  when  it  was  published. 

3  P.  Cayet,  op.  cit.  ii.  356  r°. 

4  The  complete  translation  was  published  at  Rouen  in  1594. 

5  J'ay  trente  mil  livres  de  rente  et  cependant  je  meurs  is  a  remark  attributed  to 
him  by  P.  de  L'Estoile,  who  adds  that  he  disbelieved  in  Purgatory  (Journal,  VIII. 
246). 

6  Niceron,  xxv.  309  ;  Michiels,  p.  Ixix.  Forty-three  sonnets  were  printed 
with  the  originals  for  comparison. 


4$  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  [CH. 

In  his  Amours  he  is  chiefly  indebted  to  the  fifteenth- 
century  poet,  Antonio  Tebaldeo,  and  to  the  contemporary 
Neapolitan  writer,  Angelo  di  Costanzo,  who  conformed  in 
his  sonnets  rather  to  the  manner  of  Tebaldeo  and  Serafino 
than  to  the  Petrarchian  pattern.  Several  sonnets  are  imitated 
or  even  literally  translated  from  those  of  Panfilo  Sasso,  of 
Modena,  another  quattrocentista  of  the  school  of  Serafino1. 
These  being  Desportes's  models,  we  are  not  surprised  to  find 
his  sonnets  full  of  extravagant  conceits  and  bristling  with 
point  and  antithesis.  Nor  are  they  fortified  by  any  sincerity 
of  emotion,  for  Desportes  was  no  better  qualified  than  most  of 
the  poets  of  the  Pleiad  school  to  play  the  part  of  the  spiritual 
lover.  Like  Bai'f  and  Magny  he  writes  far  better  in  his  true 
character  of  a  professed  libertine.  For  he  was  capable  of 
strong,  if  not  durable,  emotion,  and  friendship  as  well  as  love 
could  lend  warmth  to  his  verse.  But  just  as  in  practical 
affairs  no  emotion  obscured  for  long  his  marvellous  lucidity, 
so  in  his  poetry  the  dominant  note  is  esprit  rather  than 
passion.     The  following  is  a  good  specimen  of  his  wit : 

Je  l'aimay  par  dessein,  la  connoissant  volage, 
Pour  retirer  mon  cceur  d'un  lien  fort  dangereux  : 
Aussi  que  je  vouloy  n'estre  plus  amoureux 
En  lieu  que  le  profit  n'avan5ast  le  dommage. 

Je  duray  quatre  inois  avec  grand  avantage, 
Goustant  tous  les  plaisirs  d'un  amant  bien-heureux  ; 
Mais  en  ces  plus  beaux  jours,  6  destins  rigoureux  ! 
Le  devoir  me  forca  de  faire  un  long  voyage. 

Nous  pleurasmes  tous  deux,  puis,  quand  je  fu  parti, 
Son  coeur  n'agueres  mien  fut  ailleurs  diverti  : 
Un  revint,  et  soudain  luy  voila  ralide. 

Amour  je  ne  m'en  veux  ny  meurtnr  ny  blesser  ; 
Car,  pour  dire  entre  nous,  je  puis  bien  confesser 
Que  plus  d'un  mois  devant  je  l'avois  oublie"e  -. 

Sometimes  however  the  wit  is  a  little  overdone,  as  in  the 
song  which  begins  : 

1  Flamini,  Studi,  pp.  433  ff. ,  and  Appendix,  I  plagi  di  Filippo  Desportes. 
For  his  debt  to  Sasso  see  J.  Vianey  in  Rev.  d'hist.  lift.  X.  (1903)  277  ff.  His 
Amours  consist  di  Diane,  Premieres  amours,  2  books  ;  Amours  <T Hippolyte  ;  and 
Cleonice,  Derniires  amours,  first  published  in  1583. 

2  CEuvres,  p.  402.     See  also  Adieu  a  la  Pologne,  p.  424. 


XVIII]  THE   SECOND    GENERATION  49 

Le  mal  qui  me  rend  miserable, 
Et  qui  me  conduit  au  trespas, 
Est  si  grand,  qu'il  est  incroyable  ; 
Aussi  vous  ne  le  croyez  pas  1. 

But  there  is  real  imagination  in  the  following  sonnet, 
which  is  interesting  as  having  furnished  our  English  poet 
Daniel  with  some  ideas  and  expressions  for  his  famous  sonnet 
on  the  same  subject2 : 

Sommeil,  paisible  fils  de  la  nuict  solitaire, 
Pere-alme,  nourricier  de  tous  les  animaux, 
Enchanteur  gracieux,  doux  oubly  de  nos  maux, 
Et  des  esprits  blessez  l'appareil  salutaire  ; 

Dieu  favorable  a  tous,  pourquoy  m'es-tu  contraire? 
Pourquoy  suis-je  tout  seul  recharge-  de  travaux, 
Or'  que  l'humide  nuict  guide  ses  noirs  chevaux, 
Et  que  chacun  jouyst  de  ta  grace  ordinaire? 

Ton  silence  ou  est-il  ?  ton  repos  et  ta  paix, 
Et  ces  songes  vollans  comme  un  nuage  espais, 
Qui  des  ondes  d'oubly  vont  lavant  nos  pensees? 

O  frere  de  la  mort,  que  tu  m'es  ennemy  ! 
Je  t'invoque  au  secours,  mais  tu  es  endormy, 
Et  j'ards,  toujours  veillant,  en  tes  horreurs  glacees3. 
It  is  however  in  his  songs  that   Desportes   really  excels. 
Set  to  music  they  were  extremely  popular  in  his  day,  and  the 
merit  of  many  of  them  is  still  incontestable.    The  most  famous 
of  all,  the  one  which  the  Duke  of  Guise  was  said  to  have  been 
humming  just  before  his  assassination,  is  the  following: 
Rozette,  pour  un  peu  d;absence, 
Vostre  cceur  vous  avez  change-, 
Et  moy,  scachant  cette  inconstance, 
Le  mien  autre  part  j'ay  range  ; 
Jamais  plus  beaute-  si  legere 
Sur  moy  tant  de  pouvoir  n'aura  : 
Nous  verrons,  volage  bergere, 
Qui  premier  s'en  repentira. 

Tandis  qu'en  pleurs  je  me  consume, 
Maudissant  cet  esloignement, 
Vous,  qui  n'aimez  que  par  coustume, 
Caressiez  un  nouvel  amant. 

1  CEuvres,  p.  172. 

2  The  epithet  '  Care-charmer '  and  the  idea  expressed  in  the  last  two  lines  are 
borrowed  from  a  sonnet  by  P.  de  Brach. 

3  ib.  p.  164. 

T.    II.  A 


50  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  [CH. 

Jamais  legere  girouette 
Au  vent  si  tost  ne  se  vira  ; 
Nous  verrons,  bergere   Rozette, 
Qui  premier  s'en  repentira. 

Ou  sont  tant  de  promesses  saintes, 
Tant  de  pleurs  versez  en  partant  ? 
Est-il  vray  que  ces  tristes  plaintes 
Sortissent  d'un  cceur  inconstant? 
Dieux,  que  vous  estes  mensongere  ! 
Maudit  soit  qui  plus  vous  croira  ! 
Nous  verrons,  volage  bergere, 
Qui  premier  s'en  repentira. 

Celuy  qui  a  gaigne  ma  place, 
Ne  vous  peut  aimer  tant  que  moy  ; 
Et  celle  que  j'aime  vous  passe 
De  beaute,  d'amour  et  de  foy. 
Gardez  bien  vostre  amide  neuve, 
La  mienne  plus  ne  varira, 
Et  puis  nous  verrons  a  Fespreuve, 
Qui  premier  s'en  repentira  *. 

This  has  the  rapid  movement,  the  lightness  of  touch,  and 
the  lilt  of  a  true  song.  Not  quite  so  perfect,  for  there  is  a 
touch  of  conceit  in  it,  but  still  very  good  is  the  following : 

Un  doux  trait  de  vos  yeux,  6  ma  fiere  deesse  ! 

Beaux  yeux,  mon  seul  confort, 
Peut  me  remettre  en  vie  et  m'oster  la  tristesse 

Qui  me  tient  a  la  mort. 
Tournez  ces  clairs  soleils,  et  par  leur  vive  flame 

Retardez  mon  trespas  : 
Un  regard  me  sufnt  :  le  voulez-vous,  madame  ? 

Non,  vous  ne  voulez  pas. 
Un  mot  de  vostre  bouche  a  mon  dam  trop  aimable, 

Mais  qu'il  soit  sans  courroux, 
Peut  changer  le  destin  d'un  amant  miserable, 

Qui  n'adore  que  vous. 
II  ne  faut  qu'un  ouy,  mesle  d'un  doux  sou-rire 

Plein  d'amours  et  d'appas  : 
Mon  Dieu  !  que  de  longueurs,  le  voulez-vous  point  dire? 

Non,  vous  ne  voulez  pas. 
Roche  sourde  a  mes  cris,  de  glacons  toute  plaine, 

Ame  sans  amide", 
Quand  j'estoy  moins  brulant,  tu  m'estois  plus  humaine 

Et  plus  prompte  a  pitie\ 

1   GLuvres,  p.  450. 


XVIII]  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  5 1 

Cessons  done  de  1'aimer,  et,  pour  nous  en  distraire, 

Tournons  ailleurs  nos  pas. 
Mais  peut-il  estre  vray  que  je  le  veuille  faire? 

Non,  je  ne  le  veux  pas1. 

Another  celebrated  one  is  O  Nuict !  jalouse  Nuict,  contre 
moy  conjuree,  imitated  from  Ariosto2. 

But  Desportes  can  also  write  well  in  a  graver  key.  His 
Prayer  to  Sleep*  is  a  good  example  of  his  more  elevated  style, 
but  I  prefer  to  quote  the  first  four  stanzas  of  his  song  on  the 
praise  of  country  life,  for  the  sake  of  the  comparison  with 
Du  Bartas's  lines  quoted  above4 : 

O  bien-heureux  qui  peut  passer  sa  vie 
Entre  les  siens,  franc  de  haine  et  d'envie, 
Parmy  les  champs,  les  forests  et  les  bois, 
Loin  du  tumulte  et  du  bruit  populaire, 
Et  qui  ne  vend  sa  liberte  pour  plaire 
Aux  passions  des  princes  et  des  rois  ! 

II  n'a  soucy  d'une  chose  incertaine, 
II  ne  se  paist  d'une  esperance  vaine, 
Nulle  faveur  ne  le  va  decevant, 
De  cent  fureurs  il  n'a  Fame  embrasee, 
Et  ne  maudit  sa  jeunesse  abusee, 
Quand  il  ne  trouve  a  la  fin  que  du  vant. 

II  ne  fremist,  quand  la  mer  courroucee 
Enfle  ses  flots,  contrairement  poussee 
Des  vens  esmeus,  soufiians  horriblement  ; 
Et  quand  la  nuict  a  son  aise  il  sommeille, 
Une  trompette  en  sursaut  ne  l'eveille, 
Pour  l'envoyer  du  lict  au  monument. 

L'ambition  son  courage  n'attise  ; 
D'un  fard  trompeur  son  ame  il  ne  deguise, 
II  ne  se  plaist  a.  violer  sa  foy  ; 
Des  grands  seigneurs  l'oreille  il  n'importune, 
Mais  en  vivant  contant  de  sa  fortune, 
II  est  sa  cour,  sa  faveur  et  son  roy5. 

The  expression  du  lict  au  Monument  occurs  in  both  writers, 
but  in  this  case  it  is  not  Desportes  who  is  the  plagiarist. 

1   (Euvres,  p.  77. 

-  ib.  p.  37.S.     Regnier  in  his  satires  quotes  0  unit,  jalouse  nuit,  and  the  refrain 
of  the  song  to  Rozette,  the  latter  twice. 

3  ib,  p.  74.  4  ante,  p.  40.  5  ib.  p.  431. 

4—2 


52  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  [CH. 

His  'spiritual  sonnets'  are  by  no  means  his  worst  work. 
They  were  written  after  a  severe  illness,  following  the  death 
of  his  friend  Claude  de  l'Aubespine  in  1570,  and  they  have 
the  air  of  being  inspired  by  a  real,  if  temporary,  outburst  of 
religious  emotion. 

Je  regrette  en  pleurant  les  jours  mal  employez 
A  suivre  une  beaute"  passagere  et  muable, 
Sans  m'eslever  au  ciel  et  laisser  memorable 
Maint  haut  et  digne  exemple  aux  esprits  desvoyez. 

Toi  qui  dans  ton  pur  sang  nos  mesfaits  as  noyez, 
Juge  doux,  benin  pere  et  sauveur  pitoyable, 
Las  !  releve,  6  Seigneur  !  un  pecheur  miserable, 
Par  qui  ces  vrais  soupirs  au  ciel  sont  envoyez. 

Si  ma  folle  jeunesse  a  couru  mainte  annee 
Les  fortunes  d'amour,  d'espoir  abandonne'e, 
Ou'au  port,  en  doux  repos,  j'accomplisse  mes  jours, 

Que  je  meure  en  moy-mesme,  a  fin  qu'en  toy  je  vive, 
Que  j'abhorre  le  monde  et  que,  par  ton  secours, 
La  prison  soit  brisee  oil  mon  ame  est  captive1. 

It  was  not  only  to  Italian  authors  that  Desportes  was 
indebted.  The  famous  Spanish  pastoral,  the  Diana  of  Jorge 
de  Montemor,  which,  like  its  model  the  Arcadia,  is  written 
partly  in  prose  and  partly  in  verse,  was  also  laid  under  con- 
tribution. The  dialogue  beginning  Berger,  quelle  advanture 
estrange,  one  of  the  Bergeries,  is  an  almost  literal  translation 
from  it,  and  the  two  Complaintes  in  the  same  group  of  poems 
are  borrowed  from  the  same  source2.  This  debt  is  interesting 
because  the  Diana  was  before  long  to  have  a  consider- 
able influence  upon  French  literature,  and,  mingling  with  the 
current  of  Italian  pastoral  drama,  to  produce  within  two 
years  of  Desportes's  death  D'Urfe's  famous  pastoral  romance 
L'Astre'e. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  quotations  that  the  adroit- 
ness and  tact  which  served  Desportes  so  well  in  the  affairs  of 
life  were  also  of  service  to  him  in  his  poetry.      Beginning  to 

1   GLuvres,  p.  509. 

-  See  G.  Lanson  in  Rev.  if  hist.  hit.  IV.  61  ff.  The  Diana  was  published 
about  the  year  1559,  and  was  translated  into  French  by  Nicolas  Colin  in  1578. 
See  J.  Fitzmaurice-Kelly  in  Rev.  hispanique,  II.  (1S95)  304  ff.,  and  Picot,  II. 
no.   1748. 


XVIII]  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  53 

write  after  the  first  hot  enthusiasm  of  the  new  school  had 
begun  to  cool  down,  he  turned  to  profit,  as  he  turned  every- 
thing, the  mistakes  and  exaggerations  of  his  predecessors. 
There  is  this  much  truth  in  Boileau's  well-known  lines,  that 
Desportes's  style  is  more  restrained  {plus  retenu)  than  that  of 
some  of  the  original  members  of  the  Pleiad,  more  especially 
Ba'i'f.  Compared  with  Ronsard's  it  is  far  less  imaginative,  but 
on  the  whole  it  is  more  lucid.  If  Desportes's  language  wants 
the  felicitous  charm  of  really  great  poetry,  if  it  has  neither 
the  logical  precision  nor  the  grammatical  accuracy  which  the 
pedantry  of  a  Malherbe  demanded,  it  is  clear,  urbane,  and 
correct.  In  short,  if  the  lack  of  strong  wings  prevents 
Desportes  from  ever  soaring  to  a  high  level,  his  tact  stops 
him   from  sinking  to  a  low  one. 

Sainte-Beuve  has  noticed  the  striking  resemblance  between 
Desportes  and  Saint-Gelais,  not  only  in  their  lives,  but  in 
their  poetry.'  Desportes  is  certainly  an  even  more  finished 
specimen  of  a  Court  poet  than  the  man  who  served  as  the 
model  of  Du  Bellay's  satire,  and  he  resembles  him  in  his 
cultivation  of  Italian  poetry,  and  in  his  use,  and  sometimes 
abuse,  of  esprit.  But  he  was  a  stronger  writer  than  Saint- 
Gelais,  and  he  had  a  more  genuine  poetical  endowment. 
When  he  is  himself,  and  free  from  the  influence  of  Italian 
models,  he  recalls  Saint-Gelais's  greater  contemporary  IVj^arot. 
For  both  he  and  Marot  represent  more  completely  than 
Ronsard  the  regular  tradition  of  French_pcielry.  They  both 
have  the  true  Frenchman's  lucidity,  his  gaiety  mixed  with  a 
spice  of  malice,  his  good  sense,  his  fear  of  ridicule.  That 
is  why  Marot__s,eems  in  some  aspects  more  modern  than 
Ronsard1,  and  why  the  best  work  of  Desportes  has  a  somewhat 


modern  air. 


Desportes  seems  to  have  been  fairly  popular  in  England, 
though  naturally  he  had  nothing  like  the  vogue  of  the 
Protestant  Du  Bartas.  Lodge  particularly  affected  him,  and 
translated,  without  acknowledgement,  his  poem  on  country 
life,  a  song  beginning 

1  Marot,  par  son  tour  et  par  son  style,  semble  avoir  icrit  depuis  Ronsard.      La 
Bruyere,  Les  Caractires,  c.  i. 


54  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  [CH. 

La  terre  naguere  glacde 
Est  ores  de  vert  tapisse'e, 

and  a  sonnet  from  Diane,  Si  jc  me  siez  a  /'ombre1.     Daniel's 
debt  to  him  has  already  been  noticed. 

The  esprit  which  flavours  Desportes's  most  characteristic 
poems  is  even  more  strongly  represented  in  the  poetry  of  three 
men  who  were  frequent  visitors  at  his  house,  and  who  were 
all  contributors  to  the  Satire  Menippee,  jean  Passerat,  Gilles 
Durante  and  Nicolas  Rapin.  Passerat.  was  born  in  1534,  and 
published  his  first  volume  in  1559,  so  that  as  far  as  age  goes 
he  might  have  been  classed  with  the  first  generation  of  the 
Pleiad.  But  his  more  characteristic  work  is  of  later  date. 
He  was  a  considerable  Latin  scholar,  his  favourite  author 
being  Plautus  (whom  he  is  said  to  have  read  through  forty 
times),  and  he  published  a  commentary  on  Catullus,  Tibullus, 
and  Propertius.  From  1569  he  lived  in  the  house  of  Henri  de 
Mesmes,  and  in  1572  succeeded  Ramus  as  Royal  Professor  of 
Eloquence.  He  was  a  sportsman,  and  wrote  a  didactic  poem 
on  the  hound,  a  tennis  player,  at  which  game  he  lost  an  eye, 
and  a  bon  vivant  with  a  red  face,  which  malice  attributed 
to  his  love  of  the  bottle.  He  was  a  good  Pantagruelist, 
and  wrote  a  commentary  on  Rabelais's  book,  which,  on  his 
death-bed,  he  unfortunately  gave  to  the  flames.  Towards 
the  end  of  his  life  he  became  paralysed  and  blind,  and 
after  living  five  years  in  this  condition  died  in  1602.  A 
collected  edition  of  his  poems  was  published  in  the  same  year2. 
The  epitaph  which  he  wrote  for  himself  is  not  the  worst  among 
them  : 

Jean   Passerat  ici  sommeille 

Attendant  que  l'Ange  I'esveille  : 

Et  croit  qu'il  se  resveillera 

Ouand  la  trompette  sonnera. 
S'il  faut  que  maintenant  en  la  fosse  je  tombe, 
Qui  ay  tousjours  aime  la  paix  et  le  repos, 
Afin  que  rien  ne  poise  a.  ma  cendre,  a  mes  os, 
Amis,  de  mauvais  vers  ne  charges  point  ma  tombe3 ! 

1  11.  no.  3. 

2  The  edition  of  1606  is  much  more  complete.     A  small  volume  of  32  leaves 
appeared  in  1597,  entitled  Le  premier  livre  des  poemes. 

3  Les  poesies  franeaises,  ed.  Blanchemain,  11.  175. 


XVIII]  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  55 

He  excels  in  these  short  pieces,  and  most  of  those  in  the 
Satire  Menippc'e  are  supposed  to  be  by  his  hand.  Among 
these  the  description  of  the  Politiques  is  a  model  of  good- 
humoured  and  effective  irony  : 

Pour  connoistre  les  Politiques, 
Adherents,   Fauteurs  d'Heretiques, 
Tant  soient-ils  cachez  et  couvers, 
II  ne  faut  que  lire  ces  vers1. 

Of  his  acknowledged  poems  the  one  Contre  les  reistres,  the 
German  mercenaries  of  the  Huguenots,  is  remarkable  for  its 
vigour  of  expression  : 

Empistoles  au  visage  noirci, 

Diables  du  Rhin,  n'approchez  point  d'ici2. 

The  chief  merit  of  Passerat's  style  is  his  direct  simplicity 
of  language,  which  is  absolutely  free  from  the  conceits  affected 
by  Desportes.  This  quality  shews  itself  in  all  Passerat's 
work,  and  nowhere  better  than  in  the  narrative  poem  called 
Metamorphose  d'uii  hommc  en  oiseau3,  a  true  conte  in  verse, 
which  in  its  happy  phrasing,  at  once  delicate  and  vigorous, 
and  its  good-humoured  malice  points  backward  to  Marot  and 
forward  to  La  Fontaine.  But  he  can  ally  this  quality  of 
simple  directness  just  as  happily  with  a  note  of  tender  grace 
as  he  can  with  one  of  vigorous  abuse  or  delicate  irony,  as 
for  example  in  his  two  best-known  poems,  the  villanelle  and 
the  ode  on  May-day  : 

J'ay  perdu  ma  tourterelle  : 
Est-ce  point  celle  que  j'oy? 
Je  veux  aller  apres  elle. 

Tu  regretes  ta  femelle, 
Helas  !  aussi  fai-je  moy  : 
J'ai  perdu  ma  tourterelle. 

Si  ton  amour  est  fidelle, 
Aussi  est  ferme  ma  foy, 
Je  veux  aller  apres  elle. 

Ta  plainte  se  renouvelle  ; 
Tousjours  plaindre  je  me  doy  : 
J'ay  perdu  ma  tourterelle. 

1  La  Satire  Mcnippce,  ed.  Ch.  Read,  pp.  110  ff. 
2  Les  poesies  franc.  1.  125.  :i  id.  1.  33. 


56  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  [CH. 

En  ne  voyant  plus  la  belle, 
Plus  rien  de  beau  je  ne  voy  ; 
Je  veux  aller  apres  elle. 

Mort,  que  tant  de  fois  j'appelle, 
Pren  ce  qui  se  donne  a  toy  : 
J'ay  perdu  ma  tourterelle, 
Je  veux  aller  apres  elle1. 

Laissons  le  lit  et  le  sommeil 

Ceste  journee  : 
Pour  nous  l'aurore  au   front   vermeil 

Est  desja  nee. 
Or  que  le  ciel  est  le  plus  gay 
En  ce  gracieux   mois  de  may, 

Aimons,   mignonne  ; 
Contentons  nostre  ardent  desir  : 
En  ce  monde  n'a  du  plaisir 

Qui  ne  s'en  donne. 

Vien,  belle,  vien  te  pourmener 

Dans  ce  bocage, 
Entens  les  oiseaux  jargonner 

De  leur  ramage. 
Mais  escoute  comme  sur  tous 
Le  rossignol  est  le  plus  doux, 

Sans  qu'il  se  lasse. 
Oublions  tout  dueil,   tout  ennuy 
Pour  nous  resjouyr  comme  luy  : 

Le  temps  se  passe. 

Ce  vieillard,  contraire  aux  amans, 

Des  aisles  porte, 
Et,  en  fuyant,  nos  meilleurs  ans 

Bien  loing  emporte. 
Quand  ride"e  un  jour  tu  seras, 
Melanco'.ique,  tu  diras  : 

J'estoy   peu   sage, 
Qui  n'usoy  point  de  la  beaute 
Que  si  tost  le  temps  a  oste 

De  mon  visage. 

Laissons  ce  regret  et   ce  pleur 

A  la  vieillesse  ; 
Jeunes,  il  faut  cueillir  la  fleur 

De  la  jeunesse. 

1  ib.  ii.  83. 


XVIII]  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  57 

Or  que  le  ciel  est  le  plus  gay, 
En  ce  gracieux  rnois  de  may, 

Aimons,  mignonne  ; 
Contentons  nostre  ardent  desir  : 
En  ce  monde  n'a  du  plaisir 

Qui  ne  s'en  donne1. 

In  reading  the  latter  poem  one  does  not  know  whether  to 
wonder  most  at  the  skill  which  is  able  to  weave  so  graceful 
a  harmony  out  of  so  well-worn  a  theme,  or  the  want  of 
originality  which  can  be  satisfied  with  such  familiar  expressions 
as  Aimons,  -mignonne ;  Le  temps  se passe ;  Quand  ridee  un  jour 
tu  seras ;  II  faut  cueillir  la  fleur  de  la  jeunesse.  But  this 
repetition  of  well-worn  ideas  and  phrases  is  characteristic  of 
most  of  the  love-poetry  of  the  second  generation  of  the 
Pleiad.  We  have  it  again  in  a  poem  of  Gilles  Durajit, 
Passerat's  fellow-contributor  to  the  Satire  Menippee,  beginning 
Charlotte,  si  ton  dme,  and  in  his  well-known  poem  on  the 
sunflower : 

J'aime   la  belle  violette, 

L'ceillet  et  la  pensee  aussi  ; 

J'aime  la  rose  vermeillette, 

Mais  surtout  j'aime  le  soulci2. 

Durant's  poems  were  published  in  1587  under  the  title  of 
Gayjtes  amoureuses  in  a  volume  which  included  some  imitations 
from  the  Latin  of  Jean  Bonnefons  and  a  group  of  love  poems 
by  the  same  writer,  entitled  Pancharis.  The  date  of  their 
composition,  however,  is  doubtless  some  years  earlier,  for 
Durant  was  born  at  Clermont  in  15503,  four  years  before  his 
fellow-townsman,  Jean  Bonnefons.  Sainte-Beuve  says  of  him 
that  "  neither  Passerat  nor  Ronsard,  nor  any  other  poet  of  the 
period,  has  better  expressed  that  feeling  of  sadness  which 
springs  from  the  very  heart  of  fruition,  and  those  thoughts  of 
death  which  are  everlastingly  bound  up  with  the  images  of 
pleasure4."  In  this  he  recalls  Olivier  de  Magny,  and  probably 
as  in  Magny's  case  the  melancholy  may  be  regarded  as  the 

1  ib.  I.  143.     Translated  by  A.  Lang,  op.  cit.  p.  37. 

2  See  G.  Saintsbury,  Specimens,  p.   130. 

3  He  died  in  1605. 

4  Tableau,  p.  126.     See  also  G.  Allais,  Malherbe,  pp.  80  IT. 


58  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  [CH. 

expression  rather  of  a  literary  commonplace  than  of  any- 
poignant  personal  feeling.  At  any  rate  there  is  little  mel- 
ancholy in  his  famous  contribution  to  the  Satire  Menippee, 
the  poem  on  the  due  ligueur,  written  when,  having  become 
like  his  friend  Bonnefons  a  serious  member  of  society  and  a 
distinguished  advocate,  he  had  bidden  farewell  to  the  poetry 
of  kisses.  Its  full  title  is  A  Mademoiselle  ma  commere  sur  le 
trespas  de  sou  asne.  It  is  too  long  to  quote  in  full,  but  here 
are  two  samples  : 

Un  asne  doux  et  debonnaire 
Qui  n:avoit  rien  de  l'ordinaire, 
Mais  qui   sentoit  avec  raison 
Son  asne  de  bonne  maison. 

Sa  mort  fut  assez  cher  vendue, 

Car  au   boucher  qui  l'acheta 

Trente  escuz  d'or  sol  il  cousta  : 

Sa  chair  par  membres  despecee 

Tout  soudain   en  fut  dispersee 

Au  legat,  et  le  vendit  on 

Pour  veau  peut  estre,  ou  pour  mouton  l. 

Nicolas  Rapin.  grand  provost  of  the  constabulary  of  France, 
was  even  less  of  a  professional  poet  than  his  friends  Passerat 
and  Durant'2: 

Je  fais  des  vers  une  fois  l'an, 
Et  pour  le  duche"  de  Milan 
Je  ne  voudrois  ni  ne  souhaite 
Qu'on  me  tint  pour  un  grand  poete. 

His  French  poetry — he  also  wrote  Latin  verse — consists 
chiefly  of  translations  and  imitations_of  Ovid  and  Horace, 
especially  of  the  latter's  Satires  and  Epistles,  and  in  these  and 
one  or  two  original  pieces  he  shews  the  easy  unaffected  grace 
of  Marot.  But  his  most  important  and  successful  poem  is 
Les  plaisirs  du  gentilJwinine_shQJ2lMtre^  which,  like  Pibrac's 
poem   on   the    same   subject,   is    an   admirable    picture    of  a 

1  See  Becq  de  Fouquieres,  Poites  franfais  du  xvie  siecle,  pp.  377  ff.  The  poem 
did  not  appear  in  the  first  edition  of  the  Menippee. 

-  Rapin  was  born  at  Fontenay-le-Comte  in  1540  and  died  in  1608.  The  existing 
Maison  de  Terre-neuve  at  Fontenay  was  built  for  him.  His  life  by  Colletet  is 
printed  in  the   Cabinet  historique  for   1871,  235  ff. 


XVIII]  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  59 

country-gentleman's   life1.      He    also    wrote   some   poems   in 
classical  metres,  which  are  complete  failures. 

The  latest  of  the  amatory  poets  of  the  sixteenth  century  is 
Michel  Guv  de  Tours,  who  was  born  about  15622  in  the  city 
from  which  he  borrowed  an  additional  surname.  His  poetry 
was  not  published  till  15983,  when,  like  Gilles  Durant,  he  had 
become  a  grave  advocate,  but  it  is  all  exceedingly  youthful 
in  character.  Even  more  than  Durant's  it  bears  a  marked 
resemblance  to  much  of  Magny's  work.  It  shews  the  same 
sincerity  and  youthful  ardour  as  Magny's,  the  same  pre- 
occupation with  the  material  side  of  love;  and  if  there  is  less 
imagination,  there  is  also  less  conceit  and  less  display  of 
classical  learning4.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  beauty  in  the 
following  sonnet : 

Yoici  le  coudre  ou  ma  saincte  Angelette 
Se  vint  asseoir  pour  y  prendre  le  fraiz 
Et  pour  s'armer  a  l'encontre  des  raiz 
Que  le  soleil  du  trebuchet  nous  gette. 

Voici  le  coudre  ou  je  l'a  vy  seulette, 
Ou  mes  deux  yeux  humerent   a   longs  traiz 
Le  doux  venin  qu'enfantent  ses  attraiz, 
Attraiz  autheurs  de  ma  flamme  secrette. 

Ce  l'est  vra>ment,   et   pour  ce,  mes  Amis, 
En  reverant  la  beaute  qui  m'a  mis 
L'amour  au  cceur,  beuvons  sous  sa  rame'e  : 

Sus  que   chacun  tarisse  jusqu'au   fond 
Autant  de  fois  ce  goubelet  profond 
Qu'y  ay  de  fois  baise  ma  bien-aymee 5. 

and  in  an  ode  on  the  familiar  subject  of  spring  and  love  which 
begins  : 

Maintenant  que  la  belle  Flore 
Fait  tout  partout  les  fleurs  eclore 

1  Printed  in  1583. 

2  He  died  after  161 1. 

3  Edited  by  P.  Blanchemain,  2  vols.  1878,  with  some  omissions. 

4  A  poem  on  his  dog  Bistoquet  (ed.   Blanchemain,  II.  79)  is  evidently  inspired 
by  the  poems  of  Du  Bellay  and  Magny  on  Peloton. 

5  Ed.  Blanchemain,  1.  p.  5;  from  Sonnets  en  faveur  de  son  Ente  (book  i  of  the 
original  edition). 


60  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  [CH. 

Et  que  le  gay  rossignolet 
Enfueille  dans  une  rame'e 
Va  courtisant  sa  bien-aymee 
D'un  langage  mignardelet l. 


3.      Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye. 

From  Touraine  we  pass  to  Normandy,  where  in  the  small 
town  of  Vire,  the  capital  of  Lower  Normandy,  we  find  another 
lawyer,  Maitre  Jean  le  Houx,  writing  drinking  songs  which  he 
called  Vanx  de  Vire.  In  this  he  was  following  the  example 
of  a  worthy  fuller  of  the  same  town,  Olivier  Basselin,  who  fell 
fighting  against  the  English  in  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth 
century  either  at  Fourmigny  or  in  some  minor  skirmish. 
Indeed,  till  recently  he  was  supposed  merely  to  have  touched 
up  the  work  of  his  predecessor,  but  M.  Armand  Gaste  has 
proved  conclusively  both  by  internal  and  external  evidence 
that  he  was  the  real  author  of  the  songs2.  It  seems  curious 
now  that  there  should  ever  have  been  any  doubt  on  the 
subject,  for  apart  from  allusions  to  sixteenth  century  events 
the  writer  of  the  Vanx  de  Vire  evidently  learnt  his  art  in  the 
school  of  the  Pleiad.  The  variety  of  his  metres  is  by  itself 
enough  to  proclaim  him  a  Ronsardist  ;  classical  allusions  are 
not  wanting,  and  when  but  in  the  age  of  the  Renaissance 
could  the  following  stanza  have  been  written  ? 

Qui  ayme  bien  le  vin  est  de  bpnne  nature. 
Les  mortz  ne  boyvent  plus  dedans  la  sepulture. 

He  !   qui  scait  s'il  vivra 
Peult  estre  encor  demain  ?     Chassons  melancholic 
le  vay  boire  d'autant  a  ceste  compaignie  : 

Suyve  qui  m'aymera  3  ! 

Apart  from  the  ingenuity  which  can  treat  a  single  theme 
in  so  many  different  fashions,  the.  merit  of  these  songs  is  not 

1  ib.  II.  33  ;  from  book  iv  [en  faveur  de  sa  Neree). 

2  A.  Gaste,  Etude  stir  Jean  le  Houx  ;  and  see  Muirhead's  introduction  to  his 
edition  of  the  Vaux  de  Vire.  Among  other  things  Gaste  shewed  that  the  MS 
of  the  Vaux  de  Vire  in  the  Caen  library  is  undoubtedly  in  the  handwriting  of 
Jean  le  Houx. 

3  Ed.  Muirhead,  p.  4. 


XVIII]  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  6l 

very  great.  They  are  especially  wanting  in  the  chief  requisite 
of  a  drinking  song,  a  good  swinging  melody.  The  following 
will  serve  as  a  specimen  : 

I'avois  charge  mon  navire 

De  vins  qui  estoient  tres  bons, 

Telz  comme  il  les  faut  a  Vire, 

Pour  boire  aux  bons  compagnons. 
Donnez  par  charity,  a  boire  a  ce  povre  homme  marinier, 
Qui  par  tourmente  et  fortune  a  tout  perdu  sur  la  mer. 

Nous  estions  bonne  troupe, 
Aymons  ce  que  menions, 
Qui  ayans  le  vent  en  pouppe 
L'un  a  l'aultre  en  beuvions. 
Donnez,  etc. 

Deia,  proches  du  rivage, 
Ayans  ben  cinq  ou  six  coups, 
Nous  fismes  triste  nauffrage 
Et  ne  sauvasmes  que  nous. 
Donnez,  etc. 

II  fust  mieux  en  nostre  gorge 
Ce  vin  que  estre  en  la  mer  : 
Quand  chacun  chez  soy  le  loge, 
II  est  hors  de  tout  danger. 
Donnez,  etc.1 

The  chief  representative  of  the  poetic  art  in  Normandy 
during  this  period — for  Bertaut  and  Du  Perron,  though 
both  Normans  by  birth,  had  migrated  to  Paris  and  were 
essentially  Court  poets — is  J^ajT__Vauquelinde_la_  Fresnaye, 
who  fitly  closes  this  chapter.  For  in  a  way  he  may  be  said 
to  sum  up  the  whole  work  of  the  Pleiad.  Not  because  by  far 
the  greater  part  of  his  poetry  was  not  published  till  the  very 
year  1605  which  has  been  chosen  to  mark  the  end  of  the 
Renaissance  period,  for  it  was  mostly  written  before  Ronsard's 
death;  but  because  his  Art  poctiqiie  is,  to  borrow  Sainte- 
Beuve's  phrase,  the  official  code  of  the  Pleiad,  the  epilogue 
to  the  movement  of  which  the  Deffence  was  the  prologue2. 

1  ib.  p.  56. 

2  //... conticnt... le  bilan  de  la poesie  francaise  aux  environs  de  1583.     P.  Morillot 
in  Petit  de  Julleville,  ill.  iyt. 


62  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  [CH. 

Vauquelin  was  born  at  the  chateau  of  Fresnaye,  near 
Falaise,  in  1536.  After  studying  the  humanities  under  Turnebe 
and  Muret  at  Paris,  he  read  law  first  at  Angers,  and  then  at 
Poitiers.  There,  as  we  have  seen,  he  formed  one  of  a  group 
of  young  men  who  neglected  law  for  poetry  and  looked  up 
to  Jacques  Tahureau  as  their  master1.  In  1555,  the  year 
after  his  arrival,  he  published  at  Poitiers  his  Forestries,  a 
very  youthful  production,  inspired  partly  by  a  real  love  of 
nature,  partly  by  classical  literature,  and  to  a  large  extent 
modelled  on  the  least  valuable  portion  of  Tahureau's  poetry, 
the  mawkish  baisers  and  viignardises.  This,  however,  was  his 
last  appearance  in  print  for  half-a-century.  His  volume 
received  encouragement  neither  from  the  public  nor  from 
his  mother — his  father  had  died  when  he  was  a  boy — and 
he  accordingly  betook  himself  seriously  to  the  study  of  law 
under  Duaren  at  Bourges,  and  so  qualified  himself  to  fill  the 
part  of  a  patriotic  citizen'2.  From  1572  to  1595  he  held  the 
post  of  lieutenant-general  of  the  bailiwick  of  Caen,  and  in 
1588  he  represented  that  district  at  the  Estates  of  Blois. 
But  the  calls  of  an  active  public  life  did  not  lead  him  to 
abandon  poetry  altogether.     In  his  own  words  : 

Et  le  temps  qui  me  reste  en  mon  peu  de  loisir, 
Aux  lettres  je  le  donne,  aux  vers  je  prens  plaisir, 
J'imite,  je  traduits,  j'invente,  je  compose, 
Apres  les  anciens,  ore  en  vers,  ore  en  prose3. 

But  for  a  long  time  he  resisted  all  temptations  to  publish 
these  fruits  of  his  leisure.  At  last,  in  1604,  when  he  was 
verging  on  his  seventieth  year,  his  resistance  gave  way,  and 
he  began  the  printing  of  a  volume  which  was  finished  in  the 
following  year.  If  he  had  ever  had  any  faculty  of  self- 
criticism,  he  had  utterly  lost  it  by  this  time.  Five  books  of 
satires,  two  of  idylls  (including  much  that  was  grossly 
indecent),  an  art  poe'tique  of  nearly  3,500  lines,  innumerable 

1  En  ce  temps,   6  quel  heur !    sans  haine  et  sans  envie 
Nous  passions  dans  Poitiers  l'Avril  de  nostre  vie 
Au  lieu  de  demesler  de  nos  Droits  les  debats. 

Art  Poitique,  II.   1067 — 9. 

2  See  his  satire,  A  son  livre,  the  last  of  book  i,  for  details  of  his  early  life. 

3  First  satire  of  book  iv  {Diverses  poesies,  p.  311). 


XVIII]  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  63 

sonnets,  epitaphs  and  epigrams,  all  went  to  swell  the  volume. 
He  omitted  nothing  except  the  already  published  Foresteries, 
and  a  long  pastoral  elegy  on  his  friend  and  fellow- 
magistrate,  Jean  Rouxel.  Two  years  later  (1607)  he  died, 
leaving  the  reputation  of  a  singularly  high-minded  and 
amiable  gentleman1. 

The  lack  of  judgment  which  he  shewed  in  the  publication 
of  his  poems  has  its  compensating  side  for  the  student  of 
literature,  for  it  makes  him  an  admirable  measure  of  the 
faults  and  virtues  of  his  poetic  school.  His  most  glaring 
fault  is  over-production,  production  without  any  real  inspira- 
tion. No  event  was  too  dull,  no  topic  too  trivial  for  his 
Muse.  Akin  to  this  is  his  diffuseness,  his  utter  lack  of 
economy  in  expression.  Truly  might  he  have  said  with 
Pascal,  "  I  have  made  this  poem  so  long,  because  I  had  not 
the  leisure  to  make  it  shorter."  Thirdly,  in  the  Foresteries 
and  the  Idyllies,  he  exaggerates  the  unmanly  side  of  the 
Pleiad  poetry,  its  sugared  sentiment,  its  baby  prettinesses,  its 
preoccupation  with  the  material  side  of  love.  Lastly  he 
carries  to  excess  the  tendency  of  his  school  to  imitation 
and  plagiarism.  Yet  with  these  grave  faults  he  has  some 
measure  of  the  two  most  important  poetic  gifts,  imagination, 
and  the  faculty  of  poetic  utterance.  He  was  a  true  disciple 
of_the_Pleiad,  and  the  Pleiad,  with  all  its  defects,  was  a  school 
of  true  poetry.  Thus  in  the  Idyllies,  many  of  which  were 
written  before  1 560  when  he  was  little  over  twenty,  we  come 
upon  charming  snatches  of  song,  in  which  that  mixture  of 
simplicity  and  art  which  is  the  true  idyllic  flavour  is  perhaps 
better  represented  than  in  any  other  of  the  pastoral  pro- 
ductions of  the  Pleiad.  There  are  no  better  specimens  than 
the  two  chosen  by  Professor  Saintsbury.  Here  is  one  of 
them  : 

Pasteurs,  voici  la  fonteinette, 
Ou  tousjours  se  venoit  mirer, 
Et  ses  beautez,  seule,  admirer 
La  pastourelle   Philinette. 

1  For  the  date  of  his  death  see  J.   T  ravers,  Essai,   p.  lxxxiii.     It  is  correctly 
given  by  Moreri. 


64  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  [CH. 

Voici  le  mont  ou  de  la  bande 
Je  la  vis  la  dance  mener, 
Et  les  nymphes  l'environner 
Comme  celle  qui  leur  commande. 

Pasteurs,  voici  la  verte  pree 
Oil  les  fleurs  elle  ravissoit, 
Dont,  apres,  elle  embellissoit 
Sa  perruque  blonde  et  sacree. 

Ici,  folastre  et  decrochee, 
Contre  un  chesne  elle  se  cacha  : 
Mais,  par  avant,  elle  tascha 
Que  je  la  visse  estre  cached. 

Dans  cet  antre  secret  encore, 
Mile  fois  elle  me  baisa  ; 
Mais,  depuis,  mon  cceur  n'apaisa 
De  la  flamme  qui  le  devore. 

Done,  a  toutes  ces  belles  places, 
A  la  fontaine,  au  mont,  au  pre, 
Au  chesne,  a  l'antre  tout  sacre-, 
Pour  ces  dons,  je  rends  mile  graces l. 

But  in  place  of  the  other2,  which  is  also  given  by  Sainte- 
Beuve,  I  will  quote  one  which  is  not  so  well  known  : 

Toy  qui  peux  bien  me  rendre  heureux, 
Pourquoi  te  rends  tu  si  hautaine, 
Philis  di  moy  ?     Car  si  tu  veux 
Tu  rendras  heureuse  ma  peine. 

Ie  scay  que  ie  ne  suis  des  beaux  : 
Mais  aussi  ie  ne  suis  sans  grace, 
Aumoins  si  l'argent  de  ces  eaux 
Me  montre  au  vray  quelle  est  ma  face. 

Nul  plus  que  moy  n'a  de  troupeaux, 
Ni  plus  de  fruicts  ni  de  laitage  : 
Chez  moi  ne  manquent  les  chevreaux, 
Ni  le  said,  ni  le  fourmage. 

Ie  voudroy  seulement  ici 
Dedans  ces  bois  tout  franc  d'envie, 
Sans  des  villes  avoir  souci, 
Vivre  avec  toy  toute  ma  vie. 

1  Idyll.  62  (Les  diverses poesies,  ed.  Travers,  p.  503).     With  11.  15,  16  cf.  Virg. 
Eel.  III.  65,  Et  se  cupit  ante  videri. 

2  Idyll.  60  {ib.  p.  502). 


XVIII]  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  65 

Las  !    Philanon,  qui  le  conduit 
En  t'egarant  en  cette  sorte? 
Vois-tu  point  ton  troupeau,  qui  fuit 
Le  Loup,  qui  ton  mouton  emporte1? 

Of  Vauquelin's  satires,  which  he  seems  to  have  written  at 
intervals  between  1574  and  1595,  I  shall  have  something 
more  to  say  in  the  chapter  on  Regnier.  Since  M.  Joseph 
Vianey  has  completed  the  work  of  stripping  them  of  their 
borrowed  plumes  they  have  lost  whatever  claim  to  merit  they 
ever  enjoyed  ;  not  even  the  prefatory  Discours  sur  la  satyre  is 
original.  It  is  true  that  Vauquelin  acknowledges  his  debt  to 
Horace  and  Ariosto,  but  he  borrows  without  acknowledgement 
long  passages,  even  whole  satires,  from  Alamanni  and 
Sansovino  and  other  Italians2.  Nor  can  he  be  said  to  have 
adorned  what  he  stole  :'  his  language  is  too  incorrect,  and 
his  style  is  too  languid  for  satire.  He  had  indeed  no  high 
opinion  of  his  own  verses,  which  he  aptly  describes  as  Pleins 
de  paresse  et  non  de  doctes  veillcs3. 

His  Art  poetique,  which  he  began  to  write  in  1575  at  the 
command  of  Henry  III,  but  which  was  not  finished  till  near 
the  close  of  his  reign4,  is  composed  on  the  same  plan  as  the 
Satires.  Horace's  Ars  Poetica  provides  about  a  thousand 
lines,  or  nearly  a  third  of  the  whole  poem,  each  line  of  the 
Latin  being  expanded  into  two  or  more  of  the  French.  The 
other  two  epistles  of  Horace's  second  book  are  also  drawn 
upon,  while  several  passages  are  taken  from  Vida  and 
Minturno.  To  these  writers  indeed  Vauquelin  acknowledges 
his  debt,  and  with  them  he  joins  Aristotle  as  one  of  his 
sources,  but  it   is   evident  that   he    knew   his   Poetics  chiefly 

1  Idyll.  42  (id.  490),  and  cf.  Virg.  Eel.  II.  19 — 26. 

2  See  J.  Vianey,  Maturin  Regnier,  1896,  pp.  69 — 77.       He  points  out  that  the 
well-known  passage  in  the  satire  of  book  iii  addressed  to  Ph.  de  Nolent  beginning 

Je  ne  sfanroy,  comme  a  Dieux  imtnorteh,  is  almost  literally  translated  from 
Alamanni,  and  that  the  satire  to  Bertaut,  the  last  of  book  v,  is  with  the  exception 
of  sixteen  lines  translated  word  for  word  from  Vinciguerra.  For  the  debts  to 
Ariosto,  which  are  very  large,  see  Lemercier,   pp.    206,   7. 

3  Cf.         Je  suis  comme  un  grand  lac  ou  beaucoup  vont  a  l'eau, 

Qui  tarissent  ma  source  et  troublent  mon  ruisseau. 

A.  P.  1.  1 165. 

4  A.  P.  ill.  1 145  ;  ib.  1 165. 

T.  II.  5 


66  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  [CH. 

through  Minturno1.  He  has  also  borrowed  from  Ronsard 
and  Du  Bellay,  while  for  his  knowledge  of  mediaeval  French 
literature  he  is  indebted  to  Claude  Fauchet.  The  original 
part  of  his  work  is  interesting  partly  for  its  references  to  the 
productions  of  the  Pleiad  school  and  its  personal  reminis- 
cences, partly  as  representing  the  poetical  ideas  of  the  school. 
In  fact  Vauquelin's  treatise  stands  in  much  the  same  relation 
to  the  Pleiad  poetry  as  Sibilet's  does  to  that  of  the  Marotic 
school.  But  unlike  Sibilet  Vauquelin  looks  altogether  behind 
him  ;  his  attitude  is  that  of  a  faithful  disciple  tempered 
to  some  extent  by  his  own  mild  and  reasonable  nature,  and 
by  the  lessons  of  moderation  which  the  second  generation  of 
the  Pleiad  had  learnt.  For  him  Desportes  was  the  supreme 
exponent  of  the  school2. 

In  one  point  alone  does  he  shew  independence — and  even 
here  he  is  but  following  Du  Bartas — namely  in  his  opposition 
to  the  literary  paganism  of  the  day  and  the  exhortation  to 
write  on  Christian  subjects  : 

Si  les  Grecs,  comme  vous,  Chrestiens  eussent  escrit, 
lis  eussent  les  hauts  faits  chante*  de  Iesus  Christ. 

Nor  does  Vauquelin  atone  for  his  want  of  originality  by 
any  skill  in  the  arrangement  of  his  treatise,  which  is  full  of 
confusion  and  repetition.  Its  poetic  merit  lies  solely  in  the 
digressions,  of  which  the  aspiration  for  peace  at  the  close 
of  the  prelude  to  the  Third  book  may  be  especially 
commended  : 

Viendra  jamais  le  temps  que  le  harnois  sera 
Tout  couvert  des  nlets   que  laraigne  fera? 
Que  le  rouil  mangera  les  haches  emoulues, 
Que  les  hantes  seront  des  lances  vermoulues? 

1  Pour  ce  ensuivant  les  pas  du  fils  de  Nicotnaclie  (Aristotle), 
Du  harpeur  de  Calabre  (Horace)  et  tout  ce  que  remache 
Vide,  et  Mintume  apres,  fay  cet  ceuvre  apreste. 

See  Pellissier,  xxxvii  ff.  ;  Spingarn,  Literary  Criticism  in  the  Renaissance, 
pp.  i86ff.  Minturno's  De  poeta  was  published  in  1559,  and  his  Arte  Poetica  in 
1564. 

2  Un  Desportes  qui  fait, 
Composant  nettement,  cet  Art  quasi  par/ait. 

A.  P.  III.  1 173- 


XVIII]  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  6? 

Que  le  son  des  clairons  ne  rompra  nuict  ne  jour 
Du  pasteur  en  repos  le  paisible  sejour1? 

Some  of  the  best  poetic  work  of  the  second  generation  of 
the  Pleiad  is  to  be  found  in  the  choruses  of  the  two  dramatists, 
Gamier  and  Montchrestien.  They  keep  to  a  somewhat  narrow 
range  of  commonplace  for  their  ideas,  but  their  language  is 
imaginative  and  stately,  and  Gamier,  at  least,  is  almost  as 
great  a  master  of  rhythm  as  Ronsard  himself.  Among  the 
numerous  elegies  which  Ronsard's  death  called  forth  from  his 
surviving  disciples  the  finest  undoubtedly  is  Garnier's2.  It 
is  addressed  to  Desportes,  who,  though  he  had  ceased  to 
write  secular  poetry,  was  generally  recognised  as  Ronsard's 
successor.  But  the  true  inheritor  of  the  poetic  style  which 
Ronsard  had  fashioned  was  Gamier  himself. 

Finally  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  though  all  the 
writers  discussed  in  this  chapter,  with  the  exception  of  two 
or  at  the  most  three,  lived  beyond  the  limits  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  comparatively  little  of  their  poetry  was  written  during 
the  last  quarter  of  it,  and  very  little  indeed  after  Ronsard's 
death.  The  unfinished  Seconde  Semaine  of  Du  Bartas,  the 
r  contributions  of  Passerat,  Durant  and_Rapin  to  the  Satire 
Menippee,  and  part  of  Vauquelin's  Art  Poe'tiqiie.  practically 
represent  the  sum  total  of  all  that  was  produced  after  the 
latter  date.  From  that  time  until  the  arrival  of  Malherbe, 
though  Desportes  was  still  regarded  as  the  leading  French 
poet,  French  poetry  was  mainly  represented  by  the  two 
official  laureates.  Du  Perron  and  Bertaut,  and  after  Du  Perron's 
retirement  by  Bertaut  alone,  who,  if  under  one  aspect  he  is  a 
paler  reflexion  of  Desportes,  under  another  and  historically 
a  more  important  one  is  a  forerunner  of  Malherbe.  Jjertaut's 
poetry,  therefore,  is  intermediate  between  that  of  the  true 
Pleiad__jchooJ  and  that  of  Malhe.rhp,  and  as  such  will  be 
treated  in  a  later  chapter  dealing  especially  with  the  years  of 
transition  from  the  Renaissance  epoch  to  its  successor. 
Meanwhile,  even  including  not  only  Bertaut's  work  but 
the    lyrical    portions    of    Gamier    and    Montchrestien,    and 

1  in.  61 — 66. 

2  Ronsard,  CEiivres,  VIII.  243  ff. 

5-2 


68  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  [CH. 

D'Aubigne's  Les  Tragiques,  the  amount  of  poetry  produced  in 
France  during  the  third  and  last  period  of  this  history  is  com- 
paratively small.  On  the  other  hand  the  prose  literature  of 
the  period  is  abundant  and  important.  But  before  pro- 
ceeding to  consider  it  in  its  various  developements  we  must 
first  turn  our  attention  to  another  product  of  the  Pleiad,  the 
Renaissance  drama. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Editions. 

GuiLLAUME  SALUSTE  DU  Bartas,  La  Muse  Chrestienne,  Bordeaux, 
1573.  La  Semaine  ou  Creation  du  Monde,  1578.  La  Secoude  Semaine, 
premier  et  second  jour,  1584.     Les  CEuvres,  2  vols.  1610 — 11. 

Pierre  DE  Brach,  Les  Poemes,  Bordeaux,  1576.  CEuvres poetiques^ 
ed.  R.  Dezeimeris,  2  vols.  1861 — 62. 

GUY  DU  Faur  DE  PlBRAC,  Cinquante  quatrains  co?itenans  preceptes 
et  enseignemens  utiles  poitr  la  vie  de  I'homme,  Paris,  F.  Morel,  1574. 
Editions  were  published  in  the  same  year  at  Lyons,  Rouen,  and  Le 
Mans.  Les  quatrains,  1583.  Les  quatrains  suivis  de  ses  autres  poesiesy 
ed.  J.   Claretie  and  E.   Courbet,   1874. 

Philippe  Desportes,  Les  premieres  ceuvres,  1573  (Le  Petit,  p.  97)  ; 
1600  (Picot,  1.  no.  740,  the  edition  used  by  Malherbe)  ;  161 1  (a  copy  in 
the  library  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge  ;  the  most  complete  edition, 
but  without  the  Psalms).  Soixante  psaumes,  1591  ;  Les  psaumes  de 
David,  Rouen,  1549.     CEuvres,  ed.  A.  Michiels,  1858. 

Jean  Passerat,  Le  premier  livre  des  poemes,  1597  ;  reveus  et 
augmentez,  1602.  Recueil  des  atuvres  poetiques... augmente de  plus  de  la 
moilie,  1606  (Picot,  1.  no.  713).  Les  poe'sies  francaises,  ed.  P.  Blanchemain, 
2  vols.   18S0. 

Gilles  Durand  de  la  Bergerie,  Imitations  du  latin  de  Jean 
Bonnefons  par  Gilles  Durand  sieur  de  la  Bergerie  auec  d'aulres  gaietfc 
amoureuses  de  Vinvention  de  Fauteur,  1587  (second  part  of  a  volume  of 
which  the  first  part  contains  the  Pauc/iaris  of  J.  Bonnefons).  CEuvres 
poetiques,  1594  (Picot,  I.  no.   757). 

NICOLAS  Rapin,  Les  asuvres  latines  et  francaises,  1610.  Les  plaisirs 
du  gentilhomme  champctre,  1583  ;  ed.  B.  Fillon,  with  a  biographical 
notice,   1853. 

Michel  Guy  de  Tours,  Les  premieres  o3uvres  poetiques  et  souspirs 
amoureux,  1598  ;  ed.  P.  Blanchemain,  2  vols.  1878. 

JEAN  le  Houx,  Les  Vaux  de  Vire,  publics  sur  le  MS.  aulographe  du 
poete,  par  A.  Gastd,  1875  >  edited  and  translated  by  J.  P.  Muirhead,  1885. 


XVIII]  THE   SECOND   GENERATION  69 

Jean  Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye,  Les  deux  premiers  livres  des 
Foresteries,  Poitiers,  1555.  Les  diverses  poesies,  Caen,  1605  (Picot,  I. 
no.  725) ;  ed.  J.  Travers,  2  vols.  Caen,  1869 — 70.  CEuvres  diverses  en  prose 
et  en  vers  (including  the  Foresteries,  published  separately  in  1869), 
pre'ecdees  d'un  Essai  sur  PAuteur,  Caen,  1872.  L'art  poctique,  ed. 
G.  Pellissier,  1885. 

To   BE  CONSULTED. 

C.-A.  Sainte-Beuve,  Tableau  de  la  poe'sie  francaise.  H.  F.  Cary,  The 
early  French  Poets. 

G.  Colletet,  Vies  des  poctes  gascons,  ed.  P.  Tamizey  de  Larroque, 
pp.  71  ff.,  1866  (Du  Bartas).  J.  W.  v.  Goethe,  Works  (Cotta's  edition, 
1866 — 68),  XXV.  260  ff.  (remarks  appended  by  Goethe  to  his  translation 
of  Le  tieveu  de  Rameau).  G.  Pellissier,  La  vie  et  les  aeuvres  de  Du  Bartas, 
1883.  O.  de  Gourcuff  and  P.  Be"netrix,  Salluste  Du  Bartas,  Choix  de 
poesies,  Auch,  1890  (they  print  Uranie  and  give  a  full  list  of  authorities 
for  Du  Bartas's  life). 

R.  Dezeimeris,  Notice  sur  Pierre  de  Brach,  1858  (incorporated  in  the 
above  edition  of  his  works).  P.  Stapfer,  La  famille  de  Montaigne, 
pp.  237—271,   1896. 

C.  Paschal,  Vidi  Fabricii  Pibrachii  vita,  1584  ;  La  vie  et  moeurs  de 
Messire  Guy  du  F~aur,  seigneur  de  Pybrac,  161 7  (a  translation  of  the 
above  by  Guy  du  Faur  d'Hermay).  L.  Feugere,  Caracteres  et  portraits 
litteraires  du  xvie  siecle,  II.  1849.  M.-E.  Cougny,  Pibrac,  sa  vie  et  ses 
e'erits,  1869. 

F.  Brunot,  La  doctrine  de  Malherbe,  c.  1.  1891.  E.  Faguet  in  Rev. 
des  cours  et  conf.  1893  (Dec.  28)  and  1894.  F.  Flamini,  Studii  di  storia 
letteraria  italiana  et  straniera,  346  ff.,  433  ff.  Leghorn,  1895. 

E.  Auble,  Etude  sur  Nicolas  Rapin  in  Mhnoires  de  la  Societe  des 
sciences  morales  etc.  de  Seine  et  Oise,  XII.    1884. 

A.  Caste",  Etude  sur  Jean  le  Houx,  1874. 

A.  P.  Lemercier,  Etude  litteraire  et  morale  stir  les  poesies  de  Jean 
Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye,  1887.  G.  Saintsbury,  A  history  oj  criticism 
and  literary  taste  in  Europe,  II.   128 — 134,   1902. 


CHAPTER    XIX 

THE    RENAISSANCE    DRAMA 

THROUGHOUT  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  the 
mediaeval  drama  still  reigned,  but  with  a  rapidly  declining 
sway.  Towards  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Francis  I  objections 
began  to  be  raised  to  the  mystery-plays  on  the  ground  of 
irreverence,  and  finally  by  a  decree  of  the  Paris  Parliament 
dated  November  17,  1548,  the  Confreres  de  la  Passion,  who 
had  just  installed  themselves  in  the  Hotel  de  Bourgogne,  were 
forbidden  to  represent  mysteries  taken  from  Holy  Scripture. 
This,  however,  by  no  means  put  an  end  to  the  popularity  of 
the  Confreres,  even  at  Paris,  the  only  place  affected  by  the 
prohibition1.  They  continued  to  play  profane  mysteries, 
moralities  and  farces,  and  even  sometimes  religious  mysteries, 
cloaked  under  the  name  of  tragedies  or  tragi-comedies2. 
Moreover  the  same  decree  had  secured  to  them  (saving  the 
rights  of  the  Bazoche  and  the  Enfants  sans  sonci)  the  exclusive 
privilege  of  representing  public  plays  of  any  sort  at  Paris. 

The  decline  of  mediaeval  comedy  in  its  form  of  the  sotie 
dates  from  the  same  period  as  that  of  the  mystery-play.  Its 
last  spurt  of  activity  had  been  made  during  the  reign  of 
Louis  XII,  who  had  employed  Gringore  as  a  political  pamph- 
leteer to  assist  him  in  his  struggle  with  Julius  II.  On  the 
other  hand  the  favour  shewn  by  Francis  I  to  this  outspoken 

1  For  representations  of  mysteries  in  the  provinces  after  1548,  see  Petit  de 
Julleville,  Les  mysteres  (2  vols.    1880),  I.   446. 

2  E.  Rigal,  Le  the&tre  franfais,  p.  129.  Lecoq's  mystery  of  Cain  played  in 
Normandy  in  1580  is  called  a  tragedy  (Darmesteter  and  Hatzfeld,  Morceaux 
choisis,  p.  320). 


CH.  XIX]  THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  Jl 

comedy  was  fitful  and  capricious.  In  the  second  year  of  his 
reign  Jehan  du  Pontalais  and  two  other  members  of  the 
Bazoche- were  imprisoned.  We  hear  indeed  of  a  Cry  de  la 
Bazoche  being  played  in  1 548,  but  from  this  time  the  popularity 
of  the  Bazoche,  as  well  as  of  the  Eufauts  sans  souci,  rapidly 
and  definitely  declined1. 

Meanwhile  the  influence  of  the  classical  drama  was  begin- 
ning to  make  itself  felt,  partly  through  translations  and  partly 
through  the  medium  of  the  Italian  Renaissance  drama.  ^Lazare 
de  Ba'i'f 's  versions  of  the  Electro,  of  Sophocles  and  the  Hecuba 
of  Euripides,  poor  though  they  were,  could  not  fail  to  excite 
attention.  Another  play  of  Euripides,  the  Ipliigenia  in  A  nils, 
was  translated  by  Sibilet  in  15492,  and  Charles  Estienne  pro- 
duced in  1542  a  prose  version  of  Terence's  Andria.  About  this 
time  too  we  find  professors  writing  Latin  plays  of  a  classical 
type  for  their  pupils.  At  the  age  of  twelve,  says  Montaigne, 
who  was  born  in  1533,  "  I  took  the  chief  parts  in  the  Latin 
tragedies  of  Buchanan,  Guerente,  and  Muret,  which  were  played 
in  great  state  in  our  College  of  Guienne3."  In  fact,  Buchanan's 
Jephthes,  first  played  about  1542,  and  Muret's  Julius  Caesar 
(1544)  were  the  two  most  notable  productions  of  this  Neo- 
Latin  drama4. 

On  September  28,  1548,  the  Court  had  an  opportunity  of 
judging  of  the  merits  of  the  Italian  Renaissance  drama,  when 
Ippolito  d'  Este,  the  Cardinal  of  Ferrara,  produced  at  Lyons 
before  Henry  II  and  Catharine  de'  Medici  Cardinal  Bibbiena's 
La  Calandria5,  founded  on  the  Menaechmi  of  Plautus  and 
formerly  regarded  as  the  first  modern  Italian  comedy6.     Five 

1  No  trace  has  been  found  of  a  representation  by  the  Clercs  de  la  Bazoche  later 
than  1582  (Rigal,  Le  theatre  francais,  p.  116). 

2  Salel  translated  the  Helena,  but  it  was  never  published. 

3  Essais,  I.  xxv. 

4  Buchanan  also  wrote  Baptistes  and  Latin  translations  of  the  Medea  and 
Alcestis.  Jephthes  is  much  superior  as  a  drama  to  Muret's  play.  For  an  analysis 
of  it  see  Faguet,  La  tragedie  francaise  an  xvie  siecle,  pp.  70  ff. 

5  Brantome,  CEuvres,  II.  256. 

6  Tiraboschi  (VII.  1253)  supposed  it  to  have  been  represented  at  Urbino  between 
1504  and  1508,  the  date  of  AriostoJs_first_comedy,  the  Cassaria,  being_i  508.  But 
it  has  been  shewn  that  the  first  representation  of  the  Calandria  did  not  take  place 
till  Feb.  6,  1513  (F.  Flamini,  //  Cinqnecenlo,  p.  273). 


72  THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 

months  later  appeared  Du  Bellay's  Deffence  in  which  he 
exhorts  French  poets  to  write  comedies  and  tragedies  instead 
of  farces  and  moralities.  In  the  same  year  (1549)  Ronsard, 
with  the  help  of  his  friends,  performed  his  translation  of  the 
Pint  us  of  Aristophanes  at  the  Collegeof  Coqueret.  It  was 
in  one  sense,  as  his  biographer  Claude  Binet  says,  "  the^first 
French  comedy  played  in  France."  But  it  was  only  a  trans- 
lation, and  Ronsard  would  never  have  dreamt  of  disputing 
with  Jodelle  the  honour  of  having  produced  the  first  French 
comedy  as  well  as  the  first  French  tragedy.  In  fact,  in  the 
Ode  to  Jean  Bastier  de  la  Peruse  he  pays  him  his  just  due  : 

Jodelle  heureusement  sonna, 
D'une  voix  humble  et  d'une  voix  hardie, 
La  comedie  avec  la  tragedie, 
Et  d'un  ton  double,  ore  bas  ore  haut, 
Remplit  premier  le  Francois  eschauffaut1. 


I.     Renaissance   Tragedy. 

The  production  of  Jodelle's  first  tragedy  Cleopdtrc  is  related 
by  Estienne  Pasquier  in  a  well-known  passage.  It  was  first 
played,  together  with  a  comedy  entitled  La  Rencontre,  before 
the  King  at  the  Hotel  de  Reims  (doubtless  the  hotel  of  Charles 
de  Guise,  better  known  as  the  Cardinal  de  Lorraine,  who  was 
Archbishop  of  Reims),  and  afterwards  at  the  College  of 
Boncour,  "  where  all  the  windows  were  filled  with  numbers  of 
distinguished  persons,  and  the  court  was  thronged  to  over- 
flowing with  students2."  The  principal  parts  were  taken  by 
Remy  Belleau  and  Jean  Bastier  de  la  Peruse,  and  P_asquier 
was  present  as  a  spectator  in  the  company,  as  he  is  careful  to 
tell  us,  of  the  great  Turnebus3. 

1  (Euvres,  VI.  45. 

2  Toutes  les  fenetres  etaient  tapissees  d'une  infinite"  de  personnages  d'honneur,  et 
la  cour  si  pleine  d'e'coliers,  que  les  portes  du  college  en  regorgeaient.  Recherches, 
VII.   vi. 

3  Pasquier  does  not  give  the  date  of  these  performances,  but  according  to  Charles 
de  la  Mothe  Cleop&tre  and  Eugene  (the  first  French  comedy)  were  both  produced 
in  1552,  and  we  know  from  internal  evidence  that  as  regards  Eugene  this  is  correct, 
for  there  is  a  reference  to  the  impending  siege  of  Metz,  which  began  in  October, 
1552.      It  is  commonly  supposed  that  La  Rencontre  is  another  name  for  Eugene, 


XIX]  THE    RENAISSANCE    DRAMA  73 

It  is  then  as  the  first  French  tragedy  that  Jodelle's 
Ctiopatre  demands  our  careful  attention.  The  play  opens 
with  a  long  monologue  by  Antony's  ghost,  in  which  he  tells  us  '  C  t- 
that  he  has  appeared  to  Cleopatra  in  a  dream  and  summoned 
her  to  join  him.  In  the  Second  Scene  Cleopatra  relates  her 
dream  to  her  two  attendants,  Eros  and  Charmian,  and 
announces  her  intention  of  killing  herself.  This  gives  rise  to 
an  animated  discussion.  In  the  Second  Act,  which  has  only 
one  scene,  Octavian  expresses  his  regret  for  Antony's  death, 
and  his  officers,  Agrippa  and  Proculeius,  advise  him  to  pre- 
vent Cleopatra  from  committing  suicide  in  order  that  she 
may  grace  his  triumph.  In  the  Third  Act  the  two  principal 
characters,  Octavian  and  Cleopatra,  are  for  the  first  and 
only  time  brought  face  to  face.  Cleopatra  implores  Octavian 
to  spare  her  life  and  that  of  her  children,  and  he  grants  her 
prayer.  In  the  Fourth  Act  she  explains  to  her  attendants 
that  the  object  of  her  entreaties  was  merely  to  preserve  the 
life  of  her  children,  and  then  the  three  women  go  together  to 
Antony's  tomb.  In  the  Fifth  Act  their  death  is  related  by 
Proculeius  to  the  chorus  of  Alexandrine  women. 

It  will  be  noticed  that,  Antony  being  already  dead,  the 
action    of   the    play  is   confined   to  the    death    of  Cleopatra, 
and   thus  only  covers  the  same  ground   as  the   last  Act  of 
Shakespeare's    Antony   and   Cleopatra.      As    M.    Rigal    says,  . 
"the  unity  of  action    is    so    perfect  that  there  is  almost  no vj^^' 
action  at  all."      Yet   in   the  conflict   between   Cleopatra  and 
Octavian,  between  her  determination  to   kill  herself  and  his  I 
to  prevent  her,  there  is  plenty  of  scope  for  dramatic  action,    i     k^    y 
But  Jodelle  has  missed  his  opportunity.     It   is,  as  we   have    \J^y^ 
seen   only  in  the  Third  Act  that  the  two  protagonists  meet, 
and    except   in  this   Act,  which    has    some    dramatic    merit,  I 
the  play  is  totally  devoid  of  action.     In  the  other  Acts  the  f 
speeches  are  chiefly  lyrical  in  tone,  and  the  minor  characters  J 

hut  this  seems  unlikely,  for  there  is  nothing  in  Engine  to  warrant  either  the  title, 
or  the  explanation  of  it  given  by  Pasquier.  Nor  can  we  suppose  that  Pasquier 
was  mistaken  in  the  play.  The  most  satisfactory  solution  is  that  Cleop&tre  was 
played  at  the  Hotel  de  Reims  towards  the  end  of  1552  and  at  the  College  of 
Boncour  early  in  1553.     See  G.  Lanson  in  Rev.  cfhist.  lift.  x.  186 — \go. 


A 


74  THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 

^  do  little  more  than  play  the  part  of  an  additional  chorus  to 
either  Octavian  or  Cleopatra.  Thus  Cleopdtre  may  be  more 
properly  described  as  a  series  of  dramatic  lyrics  than  as  a  true 
drama.  Moreover  the  part  allowed  to  the  actual  chorus  forms 
at  least  a  quarter  of  the  whole  play. 

Yet  there  is  something  in  the  play  which  at  once  differ- 
entiates it  from  a  mediaeval  mystery.  Cleopatra  is  no  mere 
stage^puppet,  but  a  woman  of  energy  and  purpose.  Moreover, 
as  Ebert  points  out,  there  is  real  pathos  in  her  situation, 
because  there  is  truth  and  passion  in  her  utterances1.  More 
than  this  one  can  hardly  expect  from  a  youth  of  twenty.  As 
regards  the  versification  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  First  and 
Fourth  Acts2  are  written  in  Alexandrines,  while  for  the  other 
<    Acts  the  old  decasyllabic  metre  is  used. 

It  is  obvious  that  Jodelle's  principal  model  was  Seneca. 
He  could  hardly  have  had  a  worse  one.  The  merits  of 
Seneca's  plays  are  philosophical  power,  political  wisdom,  and 
above  all  psychological  insight.  But  though  he  can  analyse 
character,  he  has  not  the  synthetic  power  to  create  it  ; 
though  he  can  portray  passion,  he  cannot  make  men  and 
women.  Further,  he  exaggerates  the  loose  structure  of 
Euripides'  plays,  until  his  own  are  absolutely  devoid  of 
unity  ;  and  in  his  desire  to  be  more  tragic  than  '  the  most 
tragic '  of  the  Greek  poets  he  bases  his  appeal  to  the  emotions 
on  bloodshed  and  other  physical  horrors.  Thus  his  plays  as 
dramas  are  worthless,  and  indeed  it  is  fairly  certain  that  they 
were  written,  not  for  the  stage,  but  for  the  recitation  room. 
The  very  language,  with  its  glitter  of  point  and  antithesis, 
with  its  use  and  abuse  of  all  the  arts  by  which  a  skilled 
rhetorician  bids  for  the  applause  of  his  audience,  points  to  the 
same  conclusion. 

Yet  it  was  to  the  pattern  pf_Seneca  that  the  young  play- 
wrights of  the  French  Renaissance  conformed  with  increasing 
slavishness.  The  long  monologues,  the  rapid  duologues  of 
single  or  even  half  lines,  the  sententious  maxims  (which  it 
was  the  fashion  to  print  within  inverted  commas),  the  rhetorical 

1  p.  107. 

2  Ebert  notes  that  these  are  the  more  pathetic  Acts  (p.  in). 


XIX]  THE    RENAISSANCE    DRAMA  75 


artifices  of  language,  the  more  or  less  strict  adherence  to  the 
unities,  the  separation  of  the  chorus  from  the  action  of  the 
play,  all  these  are  Senecan  characteristics  which  become  more 
or  less  stereotyped  in  French  Renaissance  tragedy.  But  the 
heritage  of  Seneca  which  was  the  most  fatal  in  its  conse- 
quences was  the  substitution  of  rhetorical  declamation  and 
lyrical  emotion  for  true  dramatic  action.  In  Seneca's  case 
this  was  due,  not  only  to  his  ignorance  of  dramatic  construc- 
tion, but  to  his  philosophy  of  life.  For  him  man  is  the 
puppet  of  a  blind  and  capricious  Destiny  from  which  he  can 
only  escape  by  a  voluntary  death.  Action,  other  than  suicide, 
is  impossible  to  him,  for  he  is  not  a  free  agent ;  he  can  only 

Beweep  his  outcast  state 
And  trouble  deaf  heaven  with  his  bootless  cries, 
And  look  upon  himself  and  curse  his  fate. 
It    is    the    same    with    the    heroes    and    heroines    of    French 
Renaissance  tragedy,  with  Cleopatra,  and  Dido,  and  Saul,  and 
Porcia.     But  such  a  theory  of  life,  whatever  its  philosophical 
value,  is  fatal  to  dramatic  action. 

How  far  the  French  playwrights  were  influenced  in  this 
cult  of  Seneca  by  the  Italians  is  in  the  want  of  positive 
evidence  impossible  to  determine.  The  only  Italian  tragedy 
which  was  translated  into  French  was  Trissino's  Sofo)iisba, 
written  in  15 15  and  generally  regarded  as  the  earliest  regular 
tragedy  of  modern  literature1.  A  French  version  of  it,  the 
work  of  Mellin  de  Saint-Gelais  with  the  help  of  some  colla- . 
borateur'2,  was  played  before  the  Court  at  Blois  in  February, 
15543.  But  Giraldi  Cintio  complained  that  Sofonisba  followed 
too  much  the  inferior  lines  of  Greek  Tragedy,  and  chose  as  his 
own  model  the  most  revolting  of  Seneca's  tragedies,  Thyestes. 
His  play,  entitled  Orbecchc,  was  the  first  classical  tragedy 
represented  in  Italy — the  date  is  1541 — and  it  exercised  a 
great  influence.  Of  a  similar  type  was  Sperone  Sperorn^s 
Canace,  written  in  1542,  while  in  1543  another  adaptation  of 
Thyestes  was  published  by  Ludovico  Dolce. 

1  Rucellai's  Rosmimda  was  written  later  in  the  same  year. 

2  There  seems  to  be  no  authority  for  iilanchemain's  statement  that  this  was 
Habert. 

3  Saint-Gelais,  CEuvres,  III.  159  ff. 


76  THE    RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 

Jodelle's  tragedy  shews  no  trace  of  the  influence  of  either  the 
Orbecche  or  the  Canace1.     On  the  other  hand,  in  his  treatment 
of  the  Chorus,  which  in  the  Third  and  Fourth  Acts  interrupts 
the  dialogue  with  lyrical  intermezzi  (contrary  to  the  express  \,Jr 
precept  of  Aristotle),  he  is  following  the  example  of  Sofonisba.-' 
In  the  three  later  Acts  the  Chorus  also  takes  part  in  the  action^ 
T  l/^of  thejirama,  a  practice  unknown  to  Seneca,  but  followed  by 
Sophocles  and  commended  by  Aristotle. 

Before  long,  however,  French  Tragedy  was  to  make  an 
even  closer  approximation  to  the  Senecan  pattern.  In  1554 
Jean  Bastier  de  la  Peruse,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been 
one  of  the  principal  actors  in  Jodelle's  Cleopdtre,  died  at  the 
age  of  twenty-five,  leaving  behind  him  a  tragedy,  named 
Medee.  His  friends,  Guillaume  Bouchet  and  Scevole  de 
Sainte-Marthe,  put  the  finishing  touches  to  it  and  saw  it 
through  the  press  in  15 56s.  It  has  distinct  merits  of  style,  but 
its  chief  interest  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  is  an  adaptation,  with 
some  help  from  Euripides,  of  Seneca's  play  of  the  same  name. 
In  the  same  year  another  member  of  the  Poitiers  circle, 
Charles  Toutain,  published  an  imitation  of  Seneca's  Aga- 
memnon3,  and  the  same  play  was  again  imitated  by  Le  Duchat 
in  1 56 1. 

We  must  now  return  to  Jodelle,  but  unfortunately  we  have 
no  evidence  to  enable  us  to  fix  the  date  either  of  the  com- 
position or  of  the  performance  (if  it  was  ever  performed)  of  his 
next  tragedy,  Didon  se  sacrifiant.  Except  as  regards  style 
and  versification — it  is  written  in  Alexandrines  throughout — 
it  shews  no  real  advance  on  Cleopatir.  If  the  lyrical  element 
is  less  prominent  there  is  more  rhetoric,  the  speeches  being 
of  immense  length  ;  and  if  possible  there  is  less  action.  Even 
the  improvement  in  style  is  due  in  part  to  the  fact  that 
Jodelle  closely  follows  Virgil,  sometimes  translating  him  word 

1  It  may  be  noted,  however,  that  Cintio  wrote  both  a  Cleopatra  and  a  Didone, 
the  subject  of  Jodelle's  second  play. 

2  Ronsard,  CEnvres,  VII.  240  ;  Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye,  Art  Poetiqne,  II. 
1039 — 1046.  For  a  copy  of  an  edition  of  this  date  (bound  up  with  Toutain's 
Agamemnon,  1556,  and  Rouillet's  Philanire,  1563),  see  Brunet,  Supp.  I.  col.  77S, 
where  the  date  of  Philanire  is  given  as  1553,  which  is  clearly  wrong. 

3  Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye,  id.  1047. 


XIX]  THE    RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  JJ 

for  word.  There  are  two  Choruses,  a  practice  apparently 
adopted  from  the  Senecan  tragedies,  Agamemnon  and  Hercules 
Oetaeus1. 

Jodelle  died  in  1573,  long  enough  after  the  composition  of 
his  first  play  to  have  had  time  to  develop  his  dramatic  talent  ; 
but  even  without  the  difficulties  which  surrounded  writers  for 
the  stage  in  those  days  it  is  doubtful  whether  he  would  have 
attained  to  any  real  success.  A  lofty  and  original  thinker,  he 
had  not  the  perseverance  to  perfect  himself  in  any  one 
branch  of  literature.  Puffed  up  with  vanity  and  ambition  he 
regarded  himself  as  a  universal  genius,  equally  fitted  for 
literature  or  practical  life.  It  was  his  merit  only,  he  firmly 
believed,  which  stood  in  the  way  of  his  advancement2.  But 
the  fiasco  which  befel  a  masquerade  designed  by  him  for  the 
rejoicings  at  Paris  on  February  17,  1558,  in  celebration  of  the 
recovery  of  Calais,  may  also  have  contributed  to  his  ill  success. 
At  any  rate  he  languished  for  the  rest  of  his  days  in  com- 
parative obscurity.  He  made  many  bids  for  favour  and 
received  occasional  presents  from  Charles  IX,  to  whom  he 
began  a  long  unfinished  poem,  entitled  Les  discours  de  Jules 
Cesar,  but  he  never  again  renewed  the  laurels  of  his  youth, 
those  laurels  of  which  he  sings  in  the  following  sonnet  : 

J'aime  le  verd  laurier,  dont  l'hyver  ni  la  glace 
N'effacent  la  verdeur  en  tout  victorieuse, 
Monstrant  l'eternite  a  jamais  bienheureuse 
Que  le  temps  ny  la  mort  ne  change  ny  efface. 

J'aime  du  hous  aussi  la  tousiours  verte  face, 
Les  poignans  eguillons  de  sa  fueille  espineuse  : 
J'aime  le  lierre  aussi,  et  sa  branche  amoureuse, 
Qui  le  chesne  ou  le  mur  estroitement  embrasse. 

J'aime  bien  tous  ces  trois,  qui  tousiours  verds  ressemblent 
Aux  pensers  immortels,  qui  dedans  moy  s'assemblent, 
Ue  toy  que  nuict  et  jour  idolatre  j'adore. 

Mais  ma  playe,  et  poincture,  et  le  noeu  qui  me  serre, 
Est  plus  verte,  et  poignante,  et  plus  estroit  encore 
Que  n'est  le  verd  laurier,  ny  le  hous,  ny  le  lierre3. 

1  Seneca's  authorship  of  both  these  has  been  questioned,  but  the  Agamemnon 
is  generally  regarded  as  genuine. 

2  See  the  poem  A  sa  ?nuse. 

3  Amours,  xiv  {(Euvres,  II.  8)  ;  translated  by  Cary,  p.   132.     The  story  told 


y 


7S    !  THE    RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 

In  the  same  year  (1558)  in  which  Jodelle  met  with  his 
fiasco,  a  new  star  appeared  on  the  dramatic  horizon  in  the 
person  of  1. toques  Grevin,  a  native  of  Clermont  in  the  Beau- 
vaisis1,  and  a  student  of  medicine  of  the  Paris  University. 
Ik-  was  barely  twenty  when  his  first  piece,  a  comedy,  La 
Tresoriere,  was  produced.  It  was  followed  in  1560  by  another 
comedy,  Les  Esbahis,  and  by  a  tragedy,  Cesar,  which  were 
played  on  the  same  day  at  the  College  of  Beauvais2.  The 
tragedy  is  modelled  on  Muret's  play,  and  owes  much  more  to 
it  than  Grevin  acknowledges  in  his  preface  to  the  printed 
edition'.  For  as  a  matter  of  fact  he  has  bodily  appropriated 
nearly  half  of  it,  sometimes  translating  word  for  word,  some- 
times expanding  or  summarising4.  But  he  has  introduced 
certain  changes  which  have  the  effect  of  making  the  play 
somewhat  more  dramatic  than  its  model.  Instead  of  con- 
fining himself,  as  Murethas  done,  to  Plutarch's  Life  of  Caesar, 
he  has  also  drawn  upon  those  of  Antony  and  Brutus  ;  and 
while  Muret's  play  is  more  or  less  a  declamation  in  honour  of 
republicanism,  Grevin  takes  for  his  central  idea  the  conflict 
between  the  republican  and  the  monarchical  principle.  This 
in  itself  shews  some  dramatic  promise,  which  however  is  only 
partially  realised  in  the  working  out  of  the  play.  The  only 
parts  that  can  be  called  really  dramatic  are  the  scene  between 
Calpurnia,  Caesar,  and  Decimus  Brutus  in  the  Third  Act,  in 
which  Caesar,  after  yielding  to  his  wife's  fears,  is  finally  per- 
suaded by  Brutus  to  go  to  the  meeting  of  the  Senate,  and  the 
last  Act,  in  which  the  mob  is  harangued  by  the  conspirators  on 
one  side  and  by  Mark  Antony  on  the  other.    But  these  scenes 

by  Gentillet  in  the  Anti-Machiavel,  Pt  II.  c.  i,  that  he  died  of  hunger  is  doubtless  an 
invention  of  the  Protestants  whom  he  attacked  smartly  in  his  poems.  See  for  his 
lyrical  work,   11.   Fehse  in  Zeitsch.  fur  franz.  Spr.  n.    183  ff. 

1   He  was  born  in   1538.     Clermont  is  about  half-way  between  Beauvais  and 
Compiegne. 

-  Ronsard's  Discours  a  Jat/ues  Grevin  (CEuvres,   VI.  311)  was  written  about 
this  time. 

Je  tie  veux  pourtant  nier  que  s'il  se  trouve  quelque  traict  digne  cfestre  hue, 
qitil  ne  soit  de  Muret.  Grevin's  friend  Florent  Chrestien  adapted  Buchanan's 
Jephthes. 

*  Collischonn,  pp.  15  ff". 


XIX]  THE    RENAISSANCE    DRAMA 


79 


together  only  occupy  about  150  lines,  or  less  than  a  sixth  of 
the  whole  play,  exclusive  of  the  choruses.  The  rest  is  chiefly 
taken  up  with  long  monologues  and  duologues  which  have 
little  or  no  effect  on  the  action.  A  peculiar  and  interesting 
feature  is  the  treatment  of  the  Chorus,  which  is  composed  of 
Caesar's  soldiers.  The  utterances  generally  take  the  form  of 
a  lyrical  dialogue,  but  sometimes  that  of  a  mere  conversation 
between  individual  soldiers.  Grevin  tells  us  in  his  preface 
that  he  introduced  this  innovation  in  the  interests  of  truth,  or, 
as  we  should  say  now-a-days,  with  a  view  to  greater  realism1. 
It  was  in  fact  a  step  towards  the  suppression  of  the  Chorus 
altogether.  We  can  hardly  expect  to  find  in  the  work  of  so 
young  a  man  any  adequate  representation  of  character,  but 
Calpurnia's  nervous  condition  after  her  dream  is  not  unsuccess- 
fully portrayed,  and  there  is  an  attempt  to  contrast  the  more 
emotional  and  violent  temperament  of  Cassius  with  that  of 
the  calmer  and  more  moderate  Brutus.  Finally,  the  style, 
though  it  is  marred  by  certain  rhetorical  tricks  common  to 
most  Renaissance  tragedies,  not  infrequently  attains  a  certain 
dignity  and  energy,  which  reminds  one  that  Grevin  is  a  fore- 
runner, however  humble,  of  Corneille. 

Unfortunately,  after  taking  his  doctor's  degree,  he  aban- 
doned the  drama  for  the  practice  and  study  of  medicine.  On 
the  outbreak  of  the  second  civil  war  (end  of  September  1567) 
he  left  France,  being  a  Protestant,  and  after  short  visits  to 
London  and  Antwerp  accepted  an  invitation  from  Margaret 
of  France,  the  Duchess  of  Savoy,  to  go  to  Turin  as  her 
physician.  Here  he  resided  till  his  death,  three  years  later, 
in  November  1570.  Besides  his  plays  he  wrote  a  certain 
amount  of  non-dramatic  poetry,  not  in  any  way  remarkable. 
Some  sonnets  written  at  Rome  during  a  visit  which  he  made 
to  that  city  from  Turin  are  too  visibly  inspired  by  Du  Bellay's 
Antiquites  de  Rome'1,  while  some  others  written  in  London 
shew  the  influence  of  the  same  writer's  Regrets*.     Nor  do  the 

1   Pinvert,  p.  136. 
a  ib.  358  ft. 

3  id.  370  ff.      Neither  of  these  groups  of  sonnets  was  published   111    Grevin's 
lifetime. 


8o 


THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 


series  of  sonnets  addressed  to  Nicole,  daughter  of  Charles 
Estienne,  under  the  name  of  Olimpe,  rise  above  the  level  of 
the  ordinary  Petrarchian  sonnet  of  the  day1.  His  comedies 
will  be  considered  later. 

In  the  year  after  the  performance  of  Cesar,  viz.  in  1561,  a 
sacred  tragedy,  entitled  Amau,  by  Andre  de  Rivaudeau,  a 
grandson  of  Rabelais's  friend,  Andre  Tiraqueau,  was  played 
at  Poitiers.  Modelled  closely  on  classical  lines,  it  is  not  a 
whit  more  dramatic  than  its  predecessors.  But  it  is  well 
written,  with  a  sustained  energy  and  dignity  of  style,  superior 
to  GreVin's  even  at  its  best2.  It  is  partly  in  Alexandrines 
and   partly  in  decasyllables. 

Thus  when  Julius  Caesar  Scaliger  proclaimed  in  his  post- 
humous Poetice,  published  at  Lyons  in  1561,  that  'Seneca 
was  inferior  to  none  of  the  Greeks  in  majesty3,'  in  France  at 
any  rate  he  was  preaching  to  hearers  who  were  already  con- 
vinced. So,  too,  when  he  spoke  of  moral  maxims  as  '  the 
pillars  which  support  the  whole  fabric  of  tragedy4,'  he  was 
in  perfect  accord  with  the  general  practice  of  the  French 
playwrights,  and  with  the  preface  to  Saint-Gelais's  trans- 
lation of  Trissino's  Sofonisba,  published  the  year  before, 
which  commends  that  play  as  enricliie  de  sentences  graves  et 
morales. 

So  with  his  views  on  the  unities,  which  he  bases,  not  on 
the  supposed  authority  of  Aristotle,  but  on  that  absurd  theory 
of  vraisemblance  or  verisimilitude  which  in  the  hands  of 
Chapelain  and  D'Aubignac  was  to  be  so  important  a  factor  in 
the  developement  of  French  classical  tragedy.    The  play,  savsHvl/ 

Scaliger,  should  be_s<3  constructed   as   to  come  as    near  as 

possible  to_lruth.  Actions  which  would  naturally  occupy 
several  days,  such  as  battles  and  sieges,  must  not  find  a  place 
in  a  spectacle  of  two  hours'  duration,  nor  will  a  wise  play- 
wright move  his  characters  from  one  town  to  another  in  the 

1  V Olimpe  de  Jaques  Grh/in,  1560.  Nicole  Estienne  married  Jean  Liebault, 
a  physician  of  Dijon.  A  good  portrait  of  Grevin,  ascribed  to  Francois  Clouet,  is 
prefixed  to  his  Theatre. 

-  A  good  example  is  Esther's  speech  in  Act  II. 

3  Poetice,  VI.  6. 

4  ib.  III.  97. 


XIX]  THE    RENAISSANCE    DRAMA  8 1 

space   of  a  few  minutes1.     For  these  reasons   the  argument 
must  be  as  brief  as  possible-. 

This  was  exactly  the  practice  of  both  Jodelle  and  Grcvin. 
As  we  have  seen  the  argument  of  their  plays  could  hardly 
have  been  briefer,  and  in  Cleopdtre  Antony's  ghost  carefully 
calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  action  of  the  play  falls 
between  sunrise  and  sunset : 

Avant  que  ce  soleil,  qui  vient  ores  de  naitre, 
Ayant  trace  son  jour  chez  sa  tante  se  plonge, 
Cleopatre  mourra. 

In  both  Jodelle's  plays  and  in  Grevin's  Cesar  the  place  is 
left  undefined,  and  doubtless  they  were  represented  without 
any  scenery.  In  all  three  plays,  however,  the  convenient 
practice  which  prevailed  in  comedy  might  easily  have  been 
adopted,  namely  that  of  choosing  for  the  scene  some  public 
place  within  easy  distance  from  the  houses  of  the  principal 
characters.  Thus  a  street  in  Alexandria  would  have  sufficed 
for  Cleopatre,  a  street  in  Rome  for  Cesar,  and  the  sea-shore 
for  Didon.  Jt  is  not,  however,  till  the  year  1572  that  we  find 
the  unity  of  place  distinctly  prescribed  by  a  French  writer. 


1  On  the  other  hand  the  Italian  critic,  Minturno,  who  closely  follows  Aristotle, 
says  that  a  play  must  occupy  '  a  day  or,  at  the  most,  two  days  '  {De  poeta  libri  sex, 
p.  174,  Venice,  1559,  and  V  arte  poetica,  p.  73,  Venice,  1563),  while  he  says 
nothing  at  all  about  unity  of  place.  Similarly  Mutio  in  his  Arte  poetica  {Rime 
diverse.  Tre  libri  di  arte  poetica,  Venice,  1551)  limits  the  time  to  two  days.  See 
Ebner,  Beilrag,  pp.  167 — 169,  where  the  passages  referred  to  are  quoted  in  full. 
Comp.  Sidney's  Apologie  (written  in  1 58  r) :  "  For...  the  stage  should  always  represent 
but  one  place,  and  the  uttermost  time  presupposed  in  it  should  be,  both  by  Aristi  itle's 
precept  and  common  reason,  but  one  day. " 

2  See  for  Scaliger's  Poetice,  G.  Saintsbury,  A  history  of  Criticism,  II.  69 — 80; 
F.  Brunetiere,  V Evolution  des  genres,  pp.  46  ff . ;  J.  E.  Spingarn,  op.  cit.  pp.  94  ff, 
I  agree  with  the  latter  that  the  influence  of  this  work  in  France  has  been  exaggerated. 
He  points  out  that  no  edition  of  it  was  ever  published  at  Paris,  and  he  might  have 
added  that  no  edition  after  the  first  was  published  in  France.  The  second  edition 
was  published  at  Geneva  in  1581,  the  third  at  Heidelberg  in  1594,  the  fourth  at 
Antwerp  in  1607,  and  the  fifth  at  Antwerp  in  1617.      Even  during  th< 

to  1640,  when  the  battle  of  the  unities  was  renewed  in  France  with  increased 
ardour,  with  the  result  that  victory  was  ultimately  assured  to  the  partisans  of  the 
classical  drama,  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  Poetice,  in  spite  of  its  great  reputation, 
was  as  well  known  in  France  as  the  little  treatise  of  Daniel  I  leinsius,  De  Tragoediae 
constitutione,  1 6 1  o . 

T.  II.  6 


0 

THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 

'  //  faut  tousjours  presenter  Uhistoire  ou  le  jeu  en  un  mesme 
\        jour   en  un  mesme  temps,  et  en  un  mesme  heu\ 

This  passage  occurs  in  the  DeVartdela  Tragedie  prefixed 
by  lean  de  la  Taille  to  his  play  of  Saul.  He  had  possibly 
based  it  on  a"pSsage  in  Castelvetro's  Poetica  d'  Anstolele 
vulgarizsata  e  sposta,  published  two  years  previously  (1570)2. 
The  whole  of  La  Taille's  remarks  should  be  read  as  shewing 
the  views  of  a  thorough-going  partisan  of  classical  tragedy. 
He  recognises  that  the  true  province  of  tragedy  is  the 
pathetic  :  la  vraye  et  seule  intention  est  d'esmouvoir  et  de 
peindre  merveillement  les  affections  d'un  chascun.  The  hero 
must  not  be  very  good  or  very  bad,  neither  Abraham 
nor  Goliath.  Abstract  characters  should  be  avoided,  as 
Death,  Truth,  Avarice,  the  World.  There  must  be  five  Acts, 
and  each  act  must  end  as  soon  as  the  stage  is  empty''.  The 
dramatist  must  begin  his  subject  towards  the  middle  or  the 
end.  No  blood  must  be  shed  on  the  stage,  for  every  one 
would  see  that  it  was  only  pretence  {feintise).  Finally,  he 
sweeps  aside  the  moralities  and  mysteries,  and  the  plays 
which  still  clung  to  the  old  practices,  with  the  same  con- 
temptuous term  epiccries,  which  Du  Bellay  had  applied  to 
the  poetry  of  the  Marotic  school4. 

1  The  words  un  mesme  jour,  as  M.  Rigal  was  the  first  to  point  out,  do  not  refer  to 
the  unity  of  time,  but  are  a  hit  at  the  mystery  plays  in  general,  which  often  lasted 
over  several  days,  and  at  Des  Masures's  trilogy  of  David  in  particular.  M.  Rigal 
further  notices  that  La  Taille  uses  the  vague  phrase  en  un  mesme  temps  for  the 
unity  of  time  without  further  defining  it. 

2  Castelvetro  takes  the  same  view  of  the  unities  as  Scaliger,  basing  them  on 
the  theory  of  verisimilitude.  Cos)  come  il  luogo  slretto  e  il  palco,  cos)  il  tempo 
slrctto  e  quello  che  i  veditori  possono  a  sua  agio  dimorare  sedendo  in  theatre.  Poetica, 
Co  v".  His  book  was  popular  in  France.  It  may  be  convenient  to  note  here  that 
the  first  complete  Latin  translation  of  Aristotle's  Poetics,  by  Alexander  Faccius, 
was  published  at  Venice  in  1536  and  at  Paris  in  1538.  A  revision  of  this  with  a 
commentary,  by  Francesco  Robortello,  appeared  at  Florence  in  1548.  The  first 
( ireek  edition  of  the  Poetics  published  in  France  was  that  of  G.  Morel,  1555-  The 
only  unity  insisted  on  by  Aristotle  is  that  of  action.  With  regard  to  time  he  .•-ays 
that  tragedy  endeavours  if  possible  to  keep  within  one  revolution  of  the  sun,  or 
only  to  go  a  little  beyond  ;  he  says  nothing  at  all  about  unity  of  place. 

a  Faire  de  sorte  que  la  scene  estant  vide  de  Joueurs  un  Acte  soit  fini  cl  le  sens 
aucunement  pai-fait. 

4  Saul  lefurieux,  1572,  pp.  2  v° — 5  r°.     The  principal  passages  are  printed  by 


XIX]  THE    RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  83 

Jean  de  la  Taille,  the  author  of  this  manifesto  on  behalf  of 
the  classical  drama,  was  an  interesting  and  somewhat  remark- 
able person.  Born  in  1533  of  one  of  the  oldest  families  in  the 
Orleanais  he  was  educated  first  at  Paris  and  then  at  Orleans. 
In  the  Third  war  of  religion  (1568-1570)  he  fought  on  the 
Protestant  side  under  Conde,  but  it  is  not  clear  that  he  was 
ever  a  Protestant.  After  the  peace  of  1570,  disgusted  with 
the  civil  war,  he  retired  to  his  estates  at  Bondaroy,  and  like 
Montaigne  combined  the  pursuit  of  literature  with  the  manage- 
ment of  his  estate.  Hitherto  he  had  only  published  a  didactic 
poem,  entitled  Remonstrance  pour  le  Roy  a  tons  ses  subjects  qui 
out prins  les  armes  ( 1563).  It  was  an  eloquent  exhortation  to 
peace  in  the  manner  of  Ronsard's  Discours,  and  had  met  with 
great  success,  having  reached  a  seventh  edition.  In  1572  he 
republished  it  in  a  volume  containing  the  tragedy  of  Saul 
le  Furieux^  written  ten  years  earlier,  and  other  poems.  This 
was  followed  in  1573  by  another  volume,  which  comprised  a 
second  tragedy,  two  comedies,  a  satirical  poem  entitled  Le 
Courtisan  retire,  and  some  miscellaneous  pieces.  In  1595  he 
published  another  satirical  piece,  Les  Siugeries  de  la  Ligue,  a 
short  imitation  of  the  Satire  Menippee,  and  finally  in  1607  a 
Discours  notable  des  Duels  in  which,  again  like  Montaigne,  he 
protested  against  that  pernicious  fashion  which  in  thirty  years 
had  cost  France  the  lives  of  over  six  thousand  gentlemen. 
He  died  in  1630,  having  reached  the  ripe  age  o£nine±yrsevun 
.jreara,1. 

Jean  de  la  Taille,  if  not  a  great  poet,  attained  a  fair  measure 
of  success  in  various  forms  of  poetry.  His  Reyimistraiici  pour 
le  Roy,  his  Courtisan  retire,  and  a  long  didactic  poem,  Le 
Prince  necessaire,  which,  though  completed  in  1572,  was  not 
published  till  quite  recently,  all  shew  a  considerable  faculty  for 
eloquent  and  energetic  expression  in  verse.  His  songs  too  are 
not  without  beauty,  and  one  at  any  rate  is  worth)'  of  quotation  : 

P.  Robert  in  La poitique  de  Racine,  [890,  p.  250-     See  also  Spingarn,  p.  200,  vt  ho 
thinks  La  Taille  borrowed  his  statement  of  the  unities  from  Castelvi 

1  See  G.  Baguenault  de   Puchesse.     Mis  researches  have  confirmed   th( 
merit  of  the  Dictiotmaire  de  la  Noblesse,  cited,  but  not  followed,  by  Haa^,  that  he 
died  at  the  age  of  97. 


84 


THE    RENAISSANCE  DRAMA  [CH. 

C'est  trop  pleure,  c'est  trop  suyvi  tristesse, 
Je  veux  en  joye  ebattre  ma  jeunesse, 
I. ..quelle  encor  comme  un  printemps  verdoye  : 
Faut-il  tousjours  qu'a  l'estude  on  me  voye? 
C'est  trop  pleure. 

Mais  que  me  sert  d'entendre  par  science 
Le  cours  des  cieux,  des  astres  l'influence, 
De  mesurer  le  ciel,  la  terre  et  l'onde, 
Et  de  voir  mesme  en  un  papier  le  monde  ? 

C'est  trop  pleure. 
Que  sert  pour  faire  une  ryme  immortelle 
De  me  ronger  et  l'ongle  et  la  cervelle, 
Pousser  souvent  une  table  innocente 
Et  de  ternir  ma  face  pallissante? 

C'est  trop  pleure. 

Mais  que  me  sert  d'ensuyvre  en  vers  la  gloire 
Du  grand  Ronsard,  de  scavoir  mainte  histoire, 
Faire  en  un  jour  mille  vers,  mille  et  mille, 
Et  cependant  mon  cerveau  se  distille? 
C'est  trop  pleure. 

Cependant  l'age  en  beaute  fleurissante 
Chet  comme  un  lys,  en  terre  languissante, 
II  faut  parler  de  chasse  et  non  de  larmes, 
Parler  d'oyseaux,  et  de  chevaux  et  d'armes  : 
C'est  trop  pleure. 

II  faut  parler  d'amour  et  de  liesse, 
Ayant  choisy  une  belle  maistresse  ; 
J'ayme  et  j'honore  et  sa  race  et  sa  grace, 
C'est  mon  Phcebus,  ma  Muse  et  mon  Parnasse  : 
C'est  trop  pleure. 

Digne  qu'un  seul  l'ayme  et  soit  ayme  d'elle, 
Luy  soit  espoux,  amy  et  serf  fidele, 
Autant  qu'elle  est  sage,  belle  et  honneste, 
Qui  daigne  bien  de  mes  vers  faire  feste  : 
C'est  trop  pleure. 

Va-t'en,  chanson,  au  sein  d'elle  te  mettre, 
A  qui  l'honneur  (qui  ne  me  doit  permettre 
Telle  faveur)  est  plus  cher  que  la  vie. 
Ha  !  que  ma  main  porte  a  ton  heur  d'envie  ! 
C'est  trop  pleure1. 

1   CEtivres,  II.  p.  clx ;  Becq  de  Fouquieres,  p.  256. 


XIX]  THE    RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  85 

But  it  is  chiefly  as  a  dramatic  writer  that  he  is  important. 
As  might  be  expected  from  the  Art__de  la  Tra^edie,  Saul  le 


Furieux1  is  closely  modelled  on  the  Senecan  pattern,  and  one 
could  not  wish  for  a  better  illustration  of  its  defects.  The 
subject,  Saul's  madness  and  downfall,  is  sufficiently  dramatic, 
and  the  play  is  laid  on  dramatic  lines.  The  Third  Act,  in 
which  Samuel's  ghost  appears,  is  especially  good  in  intention. 
But  the  whole  dramatic  effect  of  the  play_ig_.s_pni1r  hy  rh^ 
dialogue,  which  hinders  instead  of  helping  the  action.     Thus 


in  the  Fourth  Act,  in  which  Saul  declares  his  intention  to 
commit  suicide,  there  is  far  too  much  argument  and  discussion, 
while  the  Fifth,  the  scene  between  David  and  the  Amalekite 
soldier,  which  has  great  dramatic  possibilities,  loses  all  its 
force  from  the  drawn  out  tedium  of  the  dialogue. 

The  subject  of  his  other  tragedy,  La  famine  oil  les  Gabeo- 
jiites,  is  that  tragic  story  which  has  immortalised  the  name  of 
Rizpah.  The  scene  between  Joab  and  Rezefe  (the  French 
form  of  Rizpah)  in  the  Third  Act,  in  which  she  pretends  that 
her  children  are  dead,  is  an  imitation  of  the  famous  scene 
between  Ulysses  and  Andromache  in  Seneca's  Troades,  and 
together  with  that  in  the  Fourth  Act  between  Rezefe  and  her 
two  sons,  has  much  beauty  and  pathos'2.  But  in  neither  scene 
has  the  author  really  availed  himself  of  the  dramatic  possibi- 
lities of  the  situation.  In  both  alike  he  is  lyrical  and  oratorical 
rather  than  dramatic. 

The  fact  that  both  Jean  de  la  Taille's  tragedies  are  taken 
from  the  Bible  is  noteworthy,  for  it  was  contrary  to  the  general 
practice  of  the  Pleiad,  who  had  an  almost  exclusive  preference 
for  classical  subjects.  The  Old  Testament,  however,  furnished 
Gamier,  as  we  shall  see,  with  the  best  of  his  pure  tragedies, 
Lcs  Juives,  and  Christian  subjects  are  warmly  advocated  by 
Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye  in  his  Art  poetique\ 

On  the  other  hand  Jacques  de  la  Taille,  the  younger 
brother  of  Jean,  who  died  in  1562  at  the  age  of  twenty,  left 
behind  him  in  manuscript,  besides  a  comedy,  five  tragedies,  all 

1  Played  at  the  Jesuit  college  of  Pont-a-Mousson  in  Lorraine  in  1599. 

2  Portions  of  both  scenes  are  given  in  Darmesteter  and  Hatzfeld. 
s  iii.  845—904. 


' 


I 


86  THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 

founded  on  classical  history  or  legend.  Two  of  these,  Daire 
and  Alexandre,  were  published  by  his  brother  Jean.  Though 
not  badly  written,  with  a  certain  dignity  of  style,  they  are 
neither  in  any  way  remarkable  and  shew  no  knowledge  of 
the  stage.  Daire,  it  may  be  noticed,  is  written  partly  in 
Alexandrines  and  partly  in  decasyllables. 

The  references  to  Abraham  and  Goliath  in  the  Art  de  la 
Tragidie  are  no  random  shafts.  They  are  evidently  aimed  at 
certain  plays  of  Jean  de  la  Taille's  contemporaries,  which  in 
opposition  to  the  classical  school  of  the  Pleiad  were  written 
more  or  less  in  the  manner  of  mysteries.  One  of  these  was 
the  Abraham  sacrifiant  of  Theodore^Beza,  written  in  15 50, 
when  he  was  a  professor  at  Lausanne,  for  the  scholars  of  that 
University.  His  play  follows  with  considerable  closeness  a 
mystery  of  the  same  name1,  and  according  to  the  usual 
practice  of  the  mysteries  Satan  is  one  of  the  characters. 
Wearing  the  habit  of  a  monk  he  serves  to  point  a  shaft 
or  two  at  the  Catholic  Church,  and  his  soliloquies  furnish 
more  or  less  of  a  comic  element.  There  is  nothing  remark- 
able about  the  execution  of  the  play  except  in  the  scene  of 
the  actual  sacrifice,  which  is  portrayed  with  extraordinary 
pathos,  due  mainly  to  that  simplicity  which  is  the  consum- 
mation of  art2. 

Of  about  the  same  date  as  Abraham  sacrifiant  and  of  the 
same  character  are  the  Tragedie  dc  la  descomfititrc  dn  geant 
Goliath,  also  published  at  Lausanne,  with  a  dedication  to  the 
young  English  king,  Edward  VI :\  and  the  David  combattant 
of  Louis  des  Masures,  a  native  of  Tournai.  He  was  secretary 
to  the  Cardinal  Jean  de  Lorraine,  then  became  a  Protestant, 
and  served  as  pastor  at  Metz  and  Strasburg4.  His  David  com- 
battant is  the  first  play  of  a  trilogy  of  which  the  other  two 

1  This  mystery  was  played  at  Paris  in  1539  {Cronique  duroy  Francois  /,  p.  268). 
See  J.  de  Rothschild,  Le  mistere  du  viel  testament  {Soc.  des.  anc.  textes  franc.), 
II.  iff.,  1879. 

-  Beza's  play  became  very  popular.  There  is  an  English  translation  by 
A.  Golding,    1577. 

'■'■  J.  de  Rothschild,  op.  n't.  iv.  lxiv. 

;  He  was  born  about  1515  and  died  in  i574.  His  translation  of  the  AZtUid 
was  published  in  a  complete  form  in  1560. 


XIX]  THE    RENAISSANCE    DRAMA  87 

are  entitled  David  triumphant  and  David fugit if.  It  is  a  pure 
mystery  in  form  ;  there  are  no  Acts,  and  the  numerous  scenes 
are  separated  either  by  a  cantiqiie  or  a  pause,  and  are  adapted 
to  the  mansiones  or  simultaneous  system  of  scenery  of  the 
mediaeval  play.  The  fight  between  David  and  Goliath  takes 
place  on  the  stage,  and,  as  in  Beza's  play,  Satan  is  one  of  the 
characters.  Each  play  ends  with  an  epilogue  of  a  moral 
character,  and  there  is  a  considerable  variety  of  metre,  octo- 
syllables being  employed  as  well  as  decasyllabics  and  Alexan- 
drines. 

Almost  the  only  specimen  of  a  tragedy  of  this  period 
which,  without  being  in  the  nature  of  a  mystery,  is  written  on 
non-classical  lines  is  La  Soitane,  a  grotesque  and  ill-written 
play  by  Gabriel  Bounin,  a  lawyer  of  Chateauroux  in  Berry. 
It  was  played  in  1560  at  the  latest1,  and  was  printed  in  the 
following  year.  In  violation  of  the  recognised  rule  of  the 
Pleiad  that  modern  subjects  should  be  avoided-,  Bounin 
founded  his  play  on  the  recent  execution  of  his  son 
Mustapha  _by  the  Sultan  Soliman  the  Magnificent  (1553). 
The  conduct  of  the  play  is  as  irregular  as  the  subject.  -■'  Ju^~ 
Mustapha's  death  takes  place  on  the  stage,  and  the  unitips  of 
time  and  place  are  entirely  disregarded.  On  the  other  hand 
there  are  five  acts  divided  by  choruses,  and  the  dialogue  is 
written  mainly  in  Alexandrines  though  decasyllabics  are  also 
employed  and,  for  four  lines  only,  a  line  of  fourteen  syllables. 
The  character  of  Mustapha  is  absolutely  without  interest, 
while  the  chief  interest  in  that  of  his  stepmother,  Roxolana 
(here  called  Rose),  is  that  she  suggests  a  comparison  with 
Seneca's  Medea.  On  the  whole  this  specimen  of  irregular 
drama  shews  rather  an  inability  to  comprehend  the  Senecan 
pattern  than  an  attempt  to  strike  out  new  lines.  At  any  rate 
it  was  little  calculated  to  encourage  a  departure  from  the 
recognised  model. 

Of  about  the  same  date  as  La  Soitane  is  another  insular 
tragedy,  also   based  on  a  modern  subject.       Such   being  its 

1  La  Croix  du  Maine  and  Du  Verdier,  tv.  2. 

2  Mais  prendre   il  ue  faitt  t>as  les  nouveaux  arguments.     Vauquelin    dc    la 
Fresnaye,  A.  P.  iii.   1113- 


88  THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 

character  it  is  somewhat  surprising  that  its  author,  Claude 
Rouillet,  should  have  been  the  Principal  of  one  of  the  Paris 
colleges,  that  of  Burgundy1,  and  that  in  its  original  form  it 
should  have  been  written  in  Latin,  doubtless  for  representation 
by  the  students  of  the  college.  It  was  entitled  Philanira. 
and  was  published  in  15562.  The  French  translation,  by 
Rouillet  himself,  appeared  in  1563-.  The  subject  is  one  of 
the  many  versions  of  the  familiar  and  possibly  true  story, 
which  furnished  Shakespeare  with  the  sombre  plot  of  Measure 
for  Measure.  In  Rouillet's  play  Philanire  is  represented  as  a 
lady  of  Piedmont  whose  husband  has  been  sentenced  to  death 
by  the  Provost  of  the  district.  He  promises  to  give  him  back 
to  her  on  condition  that  she  will  satisfy  his  passion.  To  this 
she  finally  consents,  and  on  the  following  day  he  sends  her 
his  corpse.  She  thereupon  appeals  to  the  Viceroy  who  com- 
pels the  Provost  to  marry  her,  and  then,  in  spite  of  her  inter- 
cession, has  him  beheaded.  The  play  is  constructed  with 
some  skill,  shewing  at  any  rate  more  feeling  for  dramatic 
action  than  the  ordinary  classical  tragedy  of  the  period. 
Though  the  greater  part  is  written  in  octosyllables,  metres  of 
seven  and  fewer  syllables  are  also  employed  to  correspond  to 
the  various  metres  of  the  Latin  original. 

There  was  another  reason  besides  the  overwhelming  in- 
fluence of  Seneca  for  the  undramatic  character  of  French 
Renaissance  tragedy,  and  this  was  the jack_of stage  experience 
on  the  part  of  the  writers.  There  was  only  one  place  in  Paris 
where  their  plays  could  have  been  performed  on  a  real  stage 
by  actors  who,  though  not  professionals,  had  at  any  rate 
some  experience,  and  that  was  the  Hotel  de  Bourgogue,  the 
home  of  the  Confreres  de  la  Passion.  But  there  were  various 
reasons  which  made  it  impossible  for  the  young  playwrights 
to  look  to  this  quarter  for  the  interpretation  of  their  pieces. 

1  He  died  in  1576,  being  then  an  old  man  ;  he  had  been  Principal  of  his 
college  since   1536  (La  Croix  du  Maine). 

2  In  C.  Koilleti  Belnensis  varia poemata,  1556.    See  Creizenach,  II.  434—437. 

3  See  ante,  p.  76,  n.  2  ;  also  Bib.  du  thi&tre  francais,  p.  174  ;  Bib.  dram,  de 
M.  de  Soleinm;  no.  756  ;  Cat.  de  la  Bib.  dram,  de  feu  le  Baron  Taylor,  1893, 
no.  327.  I  only  know  the  edition  of  1577,  of  which  there  is  a  copy  in  the  Bib. 
Nat. 


XIX]  THE    RENAISSANCE    DRAMA  89 

Even  if  the  actors  of  the  Hotel  de  Bourgogne  had  had 
sufficient  education  to  enable  them  to  interpret  classical  drama, 
their  system  of  scenery  was  quite  unsuited  to  it.  Further,  the 
public  for  which  they  catered,  the  good  people  of  Paris, 
accustomed  as  they  were  to  the  lively  bustle  ofjnysterv- 
plays,  would  never  have  endured  the  tedious  speeches  and  - 
the  want  of  action  which  marked  the  new  classical  tragedy. 
Moreover  the  antagonism  between  the  two  dramas,  medieval 
and  classical,  was  so  pronounced,  the  attitude  of  the_classical 
champions  to  the  Confreres  so  arrogant,  that  any  combina- 
tion between  them  was  out  of  the  question1. 

It  is  true  that  M.  Lanson  has  been  able  to  compile  from 
various  records  an  imposing  list  of  performances,  either  in 
colleges  or  in  noble  houses,  of  plays  written  during  the  latter 
half  of  the  sixteenth  century2.  But  though  the  whole  list  is  a 
fairly  long  one,  and  though  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  doubt- 
less the  records  are  very  far  from  being  complete,  the  number 
of  times  that  the  representation  of  any  individual  play  is 
recorded  is  exceedingly  small.  Moreover,  not  only  were 
these  the  performances  of  amateurs  who  could  have  had  very 
little  experience,  but  they  were  played  before  audiences  who 
were  anything  but  critical.  The  professors  and  fellow-students 
who  witnessed  the  performances  in  the  college  halls  were  only 
too  ready  to  admire  anything  that  was  modelled  on  a  classical 
pattern,  while  such  plays  as  were  produced  in  some  princely 
chateau  for  the  entertainment  of  a  royal  guest  were  often  set 
off  by  elaborate  scenery  and  music.  Thus,  though  M.  Lanson 
is  justified  by  the  evidence  he  has  collected  in  maintaining 
that  the  writers  of  Renaissance  tragedy  during  the  last  thirty 
years  of  the  sixteenth  century  still  wrote  with  a  view  to  stage 
representation,  they  could  have  had  little  expectation  of 
seeing  their  hopes  realised.  M.  Rigal  well  points  out  that 
while  Jean  de  la  Taille  wrote  his  earlier  play,  Saul  in  the 
hope  of  its  being  performed,  in  his  later  play,  Les  Gabcotiites, 
he  makes  no  attempt  to  provide  for  the  requirements  <>f  the 

1  See  on  this  .subject  E.   Rigal,   l.c  thMtre  Jranfais,   117  It'.,  and  in   Petil  de 
Julleville,   III.   264  fif. 

-  See  G.  Lanson  in  Rev.  cThist.  litt.  X  (1903),  1  77  ff-,  4  ' 3  "• 


90 


THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 


stage1.  So  when  at  last  a  writer  appeared  who  was  equipped 
with  a  high  poetical  endowment,  he  continued  for  several 
years  to  produce  tragedies  which  were  even  less  suited  to  the 
stage  than  those  of  his  predecessors. 

Robert  Gamier  was  born  at  La  Ferte-BernarcLin  Maj_ne 
tbout  the  year  1545'.  He  followed  the  law  as  a  profession, 
practised  at  the  Paris  bar,  till  he  became  judge  of  the  criminal 
court  {lieutenant  general  criminel)  for  his  native  province,  and 
finally  returned  to  Paris  as  a  member  of  the  Great  Council. 
From  the  dramatic-point  of  view  his  first  tragedy,  PorcjjL 
which  appeared  in  1568,  could  hardly  be  worse.  The  First 
Act  consists  of  one  long  rhetorical  monologue  by  Megaera, 
one  of  the  Furies,  followed  by  a  chorus.  In  the  Second  Act 
we  have  a  monologue  by  Porcia,  a  chorus,  a  monologue  by 
Porcia's  nurse,  a  dialogue  between  Porcia  and  the  nurse 
obviously  imitated  from  Octavia,  which  in  Garnier's  day  was 
supposed  to  be  by  Seneca,  and  another  chorus.  The  Third 
Act,  which  is  very  long,  and  in  which   five   new   characters 

1  Rigal,  op.  cit.  p.  128. 

2  De  Thou  says  Gamier  died  in  1590,  aged  56,  and  Sainte-Marthe  gives  him 
the  same  age,  and  from  the  place  in  which  his  elogium  appears  in  his  book  evidently 
supposes  him  to  have  died  about  1590.  But  Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye  has  an 
epitaph  on  Gamier  which  begins  as  follows : 

Neuf  lustres  sout  passez  que  ma  Muse  Lyrique 
Lamenla  stir  le  Clain  La  Peruse  tragique, 
Et  mai?i tenant  -e  plain  Gamier. 

{Diver ses  poesies,  p.  679. ) 
Now  La  Peruse  died  in  1554,  and  Vauquelin's  epitaph  on  him  appeared  in  his 
Foresteries  in  1555,  so  that  according  to  this  Gamier  must  have  died  in   1599  or 
1600.     Again  Vauquelin  in  the  last  satire  of  his  second  book  (Dtv.  poes.  pp.  243  ff.) 
addressing  Gamier  says : 

Je  suis  plus  vieil  que  toy  de  quelque  dix  ans, 
Vauquelin  himself   being    born    in    1536.     From  these   two   statements    we   may 
infer  that  Gamier  was  born  about  1545  and  died  about   1600.     This  date  for  his 
birth  agrees  much  better  than  the  earlier  one  with  that  of  the  publication  of  his 
first  play,  namely  1568. 

Desportes  in  Bibliographic  du  Mans,  1844,  p.  306,  gives  the  date  of  his 
death  as  Aug.  15,  J590;  the  Biographie  universelle  gives  1545-1601.  See  also 
W  .  Forster's  introduction  to  vol.  IV.  of  Garnier's  plays,  pp.  xxi— xxiii,  where 
nearly  all  the  evidence  is  set  forth.  He  concludes  for  1534-1590,  but  he  had  not 
seen  Vauquelin's  lines. 


XIX]  THE    RENAISSANCE    DRAMA 


91 


appear,  has  nothing  to  do  with  Porcia.  In  the  Fourth  she 
hears  the  news  of  Brutus's  death,  and  in  the  Fifth  her  own 
death  is  related  by  the  nurse.  In  his  next  play,  Hiflfio/vte* 
published  in  _JJ£3>  Gamier  had  the  advantage  of  a  nn 
interesting  subject  and  of  a  direct  model  in  Seneca's  Pluedra, 
which  itself  is  based  on  the  Hippolytus  of  Euripides  and  a  lost 
play  on  the  same  subject  by  the  same  writer.  The  scene 
between  Phaedra  and  her  nurse,  which  forms  the  Second  Act, 
is  really  interesting  ;  there  is  genuine  feeling  in  some  of  the 
speeches,  and  there  is  some  success  in  portraying,  if  not  a 
complete  character,  at  any  rate  a  mental  condition.  The 
later  Acts  are  inferior,  and  quite  unsuited  to  the  stage. 
Cornelie  (1.574),  another  Roman  play,  is  no  improvement  on 
Porcie,  except  in  the  matter  of  style.  The  action  is  confused, 
disconnected,  and  leads  to  nothing,  not  even  to  the  death  of 
Cornelia  ;  for  the  play  ends  with  the  announcement  of  her 
intention  not  to  put  herself  to  death  until  she  has  buried 
Pompey.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  in  a  vague  sort  of  way 
Gamier  may  have  intended  the  fall  of  the  Republic  to  be  the 
real  subject  of  the  tragedy.  As  in  all  his  plays  many  of  the__ 
speeches  are  of_conjid^rabie_beauty,  and  shew  real  poetical 
merit.  Perhaps  the  finest  is  Caesar's  address  to  Rome,  the 
opening  lines  of  which  may  be  quoted  as  a  specimen  : 

O  superbe  Cite\  qui  vas  leuant  le  front 
Sur  toutes  les  citez  de  ce  grand  monde  rond  : 
Et  dont  Phonneur  gaigne  par  victoires  fameuses 
Espouuante  du  ciel  les  voutes  lumineuses  ! 
O  sourcilleuses  tours!    6  coustaux  decorez  \ 
O  palais  orgueilleux  !  6  temples  honorez  ! 
O  vous  murs  que  les  dieux  ont  ma^onnez  eux-mesmes, 
Eux-mesmes  etoffez  de  mille  diademes, 
Ne  ressentez-vous  point  de  plaisir  en  vos  cueurs, 
De  voir  vostre  Cesar  le  vaincueur  des  vaincueurs, 
Accroistre  vostre  Empire,  avecques  vos  louanges, 
Par  tant  de  gloire  acquise  aux  nations  estranges  ? 

O  beau  Tybre,  et  tes  flots  de  grand'aise  ronflans, 
Ne  doublent-ils  leur  crespe  a  tes  verdureux  flancs, 

1  A  play  entitled  Hipfolyte,  probably  Carnier's,  was  played  at  the  College  ol 
Saint-Maixent  in  Poitou  in  1576  (Lanson,  loc.  cit.). 


THE    RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 


Joycux  de  ma  venue?   et  dune  voix  vagueuse 

Ne  vont-ils  annoncer  a  la  mer  escumeuse 

L'honneur  de  mes  combats  ?   ne  vont  ne  vont  tes  flots 

Aux  Tritons  mariniers  faire  bruire  mon  los, 

Et  au  pere  Ocean  se  vanter  que  le  Tybre 

Roulera  plus  fameux  que  l'Eufrate  et  le  Tigre1? 

,  L  One  has  only  to  compare  this  with  Jean  de  la  Taille's 
tragedies  to  realise  the  marked  advance  in  style  which  Gamier 
had  made. 

During  the  four  years  which  elapsed  between  the  publica- 
tion of  Cornclic  and  that  of  his  next  play  Garnier's  ideas  seem 
to  have  undergone  some  modification.  He  appears  to  have  felt 
the  need  of  introducing  more  variety  and  life  into  his  plays^ 
Hence  in  Marc-Autoine  ( 1 5/8)2  the  number  of  characters 
is  considerably  increased,  and  there  is  a  double  source  of 
interest,  the  death  of  Antony  and  the  death  of  Cleopatra. 
But  the  play  is  chiefly  taken  up  with  discussions  between 
Cleopatra  and  her  maidens  as  to  whether  she  shall  commit 
suicide  (Act  II),  between  Antony  and  his  friend  as  to  whether 
he  shall  commit  suicide  (Act  III),  and  between  Octavius 
Caesar  and  Agrippa  as  to  whether  Antony  shall  be  put  to 
death  (Act  IV).  The  nearest  approach  to  any  action  is 
Cleopatra's  final  speech  before  her  death,  and  it  distinctly 
increases  the  effect  that  her  death  is  left  to  our  imagination, 
instead  of  being  narrated  by  a  messenger. 

In  La  Troade(i^yg)  and  Antigone  (1580),  which  followed 
closely  on  Marc-Autoine,  Gamier  adopted  another  method  of 
increasing  the  interest  of  his  plays,  that  of  blending  the  plots 
of  two  or  jiore  plays.  Thus  La  Troadeis  taken  from  Seneca's 
Troades  and  Euripides's  Troades  and  Hecuba,  the  play  of 
Seneca  being  based  partly  on  Euripides's  play  of  the  same 
name  and  partly  on  two  lost  plays  of  Sophocles.  The  result 
is  that  the  first  four  Acts  of  Garnier's  tragedy  deal  with  two 
subjects,  the  death  of  Astyanax  and  the  death  of  Polyxena, 
which  are  somewhat  loosely  knit  together,  while  in  the  Fifth 
Act  we  pass  to  a  third  subject,  quite  distinct  from  the  other 

1  U-  '303  ff.     Cornelie  was  well  translated  by  Thomas  Kyd. 
-  Translated  by  the  Countess  of  Pembroke. 


XIX]  THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  93 

two,  namely  the  vengeance  of  Hecuba  on  Polymestor.  The 
finest  scene  is  naturally  the  reproduction  of  the  famous  scene 
between  Andromache  and  Ulysses,  which  Jean  de  la  Taille 
had  already  borrowed  from  Seneca. 

In  1  ^82  Gamier  made  an  interesting  and  successful  experi- 
ment with  a  romantic  drama,  and  then  in  the  following  year 
returned  to  the'  field  of  tragedy,  deserting  his  classica^models 
injthe  choice  of  subject,  and  standing  for_lhe  first  time  on  his 
jownJeft.  Like  Jean  de  la  Taille  he  went  to  the  Bible  and 
took  for  his  subject  the  punishment  of  Zedekiah  by  Nebuchad- 
nezzar. The  play  was  entitled  Lesjuives1.  There  is  nothing 
in  it  the  least  dramatic  till  we  come  to  the  Second  Scene  of 
the  Third  Act,  in  which  Amital  (Hamutal)  intercedes  with 
Nebuchadnezzar  for  her  son  Zedekiah.  In  the  rest  of  the 
play,  if  there  is  no  real  action  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word 
(for  Nebuchadnezzar's  mind  is  made  up  from  the  beginning), 
there  is  at  any  rate  a  strong  element  of  pity  and  terror. 
These  are  alleviated  by  the  final  speech  of  the  Prophet,  who 
foretells  the  downfall  of  Babylon  and  the  return  of  the  Jews 
to  Jerusalem.  It  is  this  appearance  of  the  Prophet  at  the 
beginning  and  end  of  the  play  as  prologue  and  epilogue 
which  gives  a  unity  and  grandeur  to  the  whole.  He  is  the 
voice  of  God  declaring  His  judgments  to  His  chosen  people. 
The  character  of  Amital,  too,  is  singularly  noble,  and  the 
submission  of  Sedecie  (Zedekiah)  to  the  divine  will  in  the 
closing  scene  is  extremely  touching.  The  choruses  are  of 
considerable  beauty,  especially  the  one  at  the  end  of  the 
Third  Act,  inspired  by  Psalm    137  : 

Comme  veut-on  que  maintenant 

Si  desolees 
Nous  allions  la  flute  entonnant 

Dans  ces  valees? 
Que  le  luth  touche  de  nos  dois 

Et  la  cithare 
Facent  resonner  de  leur  voix 

Un  ciel  barbare  ? 

1  Played  circ.  1600  in  the  Angoumois  by  a  Confririe  (Balzac,  Entretiens,  VI. 

cited  by  Lanson,   loc.  cil.  p.   217). 


qa  THE    RENAISSANCE    DRAMA  [CH. 

Que  la  harpe,  de  qui  le  son 

Tousjours  lamente, 
Assemble  avec  nostre  chanson 

Sa  voix  dolente  ? 
Trop  nous  donnent  d'affliction 

Nos  maux  publiques, 
Pour  vous  reciter  de  Sion 

Les  saints  cantiques. 

Car  helas  qui  se  contiendra 

Ue  faire  plainte 
Lors  que  de  toy  nous  souviendra 

Montagne  sainte  ! 
Or  tandis  qu'en  son  corps  sera 

Nostre  ame  enclose, 
Israel  jamais  n'oublira 

Si  chere  chose. 
•    Nos  enfans  nous  soyent  desormais 

En  oubliance 
Si  de  toy  nous  perdons  jamais 

La  souvenance. 
Nostre  langue  tienne  au  gosier, 

Et  nostre  dextre 
Pour  les  instrumens  manier 

Ne  soit  adextre. 
Que  tousjours  nostre  nation 

Serve  captiue, 
Si  jamais  j'oublie  Sion 

Tant  que  je  vive. 

Moreover  in  this  play  with  its  national  import  the  Chorus, 
composed  of  Jewish  women,  is  far  more  in  place  than  in  the 
ordinary  Renaissance  tragedy,  in  which  it  merely  serves  to 
separate  the  scenes  and  acts.  Finally,  the  religious  basis  of 
the  play  gives  it  a  breadth  of  interest  which  is  often  lacking 
in  French  tragedy.  It  is  no  mere  accident  that  the  three 
plays  which  the  majority  of  critics  regard  as  the  masterpieces 
of  Corneille,  Racine  and  Voltaire  all  turn  on  religion. 

In  1585  Gamier  published  a  collected  edition  of  his  plays. 
Whatever  their  dramatic  merits  their  popularity  with  the 
reading  public  was  unbounded.  From  1592,  when  the  original 
privilege   had    expired,   to    16 19    there   appeared  over   forty 


XIX]  THE    RENAISSANCE    DRAMA 


95 


editions,   some    at    Paris,    some    at    Lyons,    the    majority   at 
Rouen. 

It  was  at  Rouen  that  the  son  of  an  apothecary  at  Falaise, 
Antoine  Montchrestien.  published  in  1601  a  volume  of  five 
tragedies,  one  of  which  had  already  appeared  separately  at 
Caen  under  the  name  of  Sophonisbe1.  The  author  was  a 
young  man  of  ambitious  and  turbulent  spirit2,  who  afterwards 
distinguished  himself  by  writing  the  first  modern  treatise  which 
bore  the  title  of  '  Political  Economy3.'  He  took  part  in  the 
Huguenot  insurrection  of  1621,  and  was  shot  in  a  village  inn 
in  a  scuffle  between  his  followers  and  some  royalist  soldiers4. 
Of  the  five  tragedies  published  in  1601  the  most  promising  in 
subject  and  the  best  in  style  is  L Ecossaise.  Dealing-  with  the 
tragic  and  comparatively  recent  fate  of  a  princess  who  had  once 
been  Queen  of  France,  it  was  well  calculated  to  stir  the  emotions 
of  Frenchmen.  But  even  worse  than  Jodelle's  Clcopdtre  and 
Gamier  s  Porcie  it  sms  against  all  the  natural  laws  of  dramatic 
art5.  Throughout  the  first  two  Acts  Elizabeth  deliberates 
first  with  a  single  councillor  and  then  with  a  Chorus  of 
Members  of  Parliament  (Chcettr  des  Estats)  as  to  whether  she 
shall  sign  the  warrant  for  the  Queen  of  Scots'  execution.  In 
the  Third  Act  Mary  receives  the  sentence  from  Davison,  the 
English  Queen's  secretary.  In  the  Fourth,  which  consists  of 
a  single  monologue,  she  prepares  for  death,  and  in  the  Fifth 
her  death  is  narrated  by  a  messenger.  Thus  the  play 
consists  of  dramatic  lyrics,  followed  by  a  dramatic_elegy. 
There  are  practically  only  two  characters,  Elizabeth  and 
Mary,  and  these  never  meet.  There  are  three  Choruses,  the 
Parliamentary  Chorus,  that  of  the  Queen  of  Scots'  maidens, 

1  It  was  now  entitled  La  Cartaginoise. 

2  He  was  born  in  1575  0TT570. 

3  Traite  de  Vaxonomie politique  [Rouen,   [615];  ed.  M.  Funck-Brentano,  [889. 
The  style  has  a  certain  eloquence,  but  is  marred  by  an  abuse  of  rhetorical  comnv  m 
place.      According  to   Professor  Ashley  it  is  of  no  value  as  a  scientific  treatise 
(Hist.  Rev.  vi.    779  fF.). 

4  See  a  letter  of  Malherbe,  dated  Oct.  14,   1021    (CEuvres,  ed.  Lalanne,   III. 
554  ff.). 

5  It  was,   however,   performed  at  Orleans  in    160.;  (Rigal,    The'&tre  fran fats, 

P-    '33)- 


96  THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 

both  of  which  take  part  in  the  dialogue,  and  the  regular 
Chorus,  which  divides  the  Acts  with  familiar  commonplaces 
on  the  insecurity  of  life,  the  unenviable  lot  of  princes,  and 
so  forth.  There  are  some  very  long  monologues  relieved  by 
the  usual  antithetic  duologue,  and  both  monologue  and 
duologue  abound  in  moral  saws  : 

Reine.  Le  souci  du  renom  se  perd  es  passions. 

Ckasur.  Qui  n'a  la  vertu  mesme  au  moins  l'ombre  desire. 

Reine.  Qui  n'a  la  vertu  mesme  a  tout  forfait  aspire. 

Chain:  D'un  specieux  pretexte  il  tasche  le  voiler. 

Reine.  Tel  est  si  deplore  qu'il  ne  le  veut  celer. 

Ckceur.  Un  courage  modeste  a  crainte  de  la  honte. 

Reine.  Un  courage  impudent  n'en  fait  jamais  grand  conte. 

Chivur.  II  nous  faut  done  prier,  e'est  le  dernier  recours. 

Reine.  Les  esprits  furieux  aux  prieres  sont  sours1- 

M.  Rigal  is  not  unjust  when  he  compares  this  to  a  game 
of  battledore  and  shuttlecock,  which,  as  he  points  out,  can 
even  be  played  by  a  single  actor,  as  when   Elizabeth  says  : 

Qui  croit  trop  de  leger  aisement  se  degoit  : 

Aussi  qui  ne  croit  rien  mainte  perte  en  recoit. 

Qui  s'esmeut  a  tous  vents,  montre  trop  d'inconstance  : 

Aussi  la  seurete  naist  de  la  meffiance. 

Celuy  qui  vit  ainsi,  meurt  cent  fois  sans  mourir  ; 

II  vaut  mieux  craindre  un  pen  que  la  mort   encourir-'. 

In  fact  throughout  the  first  two  Acts  Elizabeth  might 
almost  as  well  have  been  on  the  stage  by  herself.  At  the 
end  of  her  deliberations  she  is  hardly  more  advanced  than  at 
the  beginning,  and  though  at  last  she  gives  the  order  for  her 
rival's  execution,  she  immediately  declares  her  intention  of 
S>  revoking  it. 

The  one  meri^of  L'Ecossaise  is  the  general  excellence  of 
its  style,  which  is  nearly  always  noble  and  diVnirleH,  and  often 
of  considerable  beauty.  This  is  especially  the  case  with  the 
choruses,  of  which  perhaps  the  most  beautiful  is  that  on  the 
golden  age  at  the  end  of  the  First  Act.  In  all  Montchrestien's 
plays  the  choruses  are  a  conspicuous  feature.  Those  in  La 
Cartaginoise,  especially  the  first  one,  Oyez  nos  tristes  voix3,  the 

1  Act  in.  2  Act  L 

3  Printed  by  Prof.  Saintsbury  in  his  French  Lyrics. 


XIX]  THE    RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  gj 

one  at  the  end  of  the  Fourth  Act  of  David,  and  that  at  the 
end  of  the  Third  Act  of  Les  Lacaies1,  are  among  the  most 
remarkable.  It  may  be  noticed  that  while  those  of  La 
Cartaginoise,  his  earliest  play,  are  short  lyrical  pieces,  those 
in  the  later  plays  are  more  of  an  elegiac  character.  To  suit 
this  change  of  tone  there  is  a  corresponding  change  in  the 
rhythm  ;  the  Alexandrine  line  isjreely  employed,  and  not 
unfrequently  used  throughout.  Both  tone  and  rhythm  re- 
mind us  that  Montchrestien  is  a  contemporary  not  only  of 
Bertaut  but  of  Malherbe-. 

Of  his  plays,  other  than  UEcossaise,  there  is  little  to  be  said 
from  the  dramatic  point  of  view.  If  they  shew  rather  more 
life  and  movement  they  are  equally  devoid  of  real  action. 
Perhaps  the  most  promising  in  subject  is  A  man5,  but  this, 
advantage  is  thrown  away  by  bad  construction.  Much  the 
same  may  be  said  of  Hector,  the  latest  play  in  point  of  date, 
which  was  first  published  in  1604  in  a  new  edition  of  tin 
collected  plays4. 

We  must  now  go  back  to  Gamier  and  consider  the  one 
experiment  which  he  made  in  the  field  of  irregular  drama,  the  Vsg 
'  tr&gi-comedy '  of    Bradamante.      According   to    the    theory 

'  See  the  lines  quoted  by  Petit  cle  Julleville  from  the  text  of  1601. 

•    He  was  in  fact  twenty  years  younger  than  Malherbe. 

'!  Aman  was  also  the  title  of  a  play  by  Pierre  Matthieu  which  he  published 
togi  ther  with  one  called  Vasthi  in  1587.  They  were  refashioned  out  of  a  single 
play,  Esther,  which  he  had  published  in  1583.  Matthieu  also  wrote  some  tragedies 
of  apolitical  character,  for  which  see  F.  Holl,  Das politische  nnd  religiose  Tendeni  - 
drama  des  16.  Jahrhwiderts  in  Frankreich  {Munch.  Beitrtige  26),  pp.  48 — 57, 
1903,  and  E.  Faguet,  La  tragedie  an  xvie  siecle,  pp.  309  ff. ;  see  also  the  latter  for 
other  inferior  writers  of  tragedy  of  this  time. 

4  M.  Lanson  in  his  Corneille  (pp.  39-44),  after  pointing  out  quite  rightly  thai 
French  tragedy  of  the  16th  cent,  is  different  not  only  in  degree  but  in  kind  from 
that  of  the  17th  cent.,  goes  on  to  say  that  both  are  copies  of  the  same  original,  viz. 
Greek  tragedy,  and  that  the  earlier  type,  the  tragedy  of  'passion,'  perished  partly 
because  there  was  no  poet  strong  enough  to  give  it  life,  and  partly  because  h 
in  its  essense    lyrical  it  suffered  from  the  general  decline  of   lyricism   in    f  1 
which  took  place  at  the  beginning  of  the  17th  cent.     Put  can  a  type  of  tragedj   1: 
which,  as  he  says,  "  there  is  no  study  of  the  play  and  conflict  of  wills."  in  which 
"everything  is  decided  before  the  curtain  rises  and  there  is  nothing  lefi  bul  t' 
note  the  palpitations  of  the  victims,  the  lamentations  of  the  vanquish*  d,1 
a  copy  of  Greek  tragedy  ?     Can  it  be  called  drama  at  all  ? 

T.  II. 


oS 


THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 


c 


which  Renaissance  critics  built  up,  partly  on  the  practice  of 
the  ancients,  and  partly  on  a  misunderstanding  or  at  least  a 
careless  reading  of  certain  precepts  in  Aristotle's  Poetics, 
tragedy  and  comedy  were  two  perfectly  distinct  species  of 
drama.  Tragedy  deals  with  princes,  ends  unhappily,  a™i-Ls 
written  in  a  lofty  style.  Comedy  on  the  other  hand  draws 
its  characters,  fromjthe  middle  or  lower  classes,  employs  a 
familiar  style,  and  ends  happily1. 

In  the  case  therefore  of  a  play  which  did  not  preserve 
these  distinctions,  but  combined  the  characteristics  of  comedy 
and  tragedy,  it  seemed  logical  to  call  it  by  the  hybrid  name 
of  '  tragi-comedy.'  So  far  as  I  know,  the  earliest  play  to 
which  this  title  was  given  is  the  famous  Celestina  or  Tragi- 
comedies de  Calista  y  Melibea,  written  at  the  close  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  The  author,  Fernando  de  Rojas,  thus 
justifies  the  name  in  his  prologue.  "  Some  have  said,"  he 
remarks,  "  that  this  play  ought  to  be  called  a  tragedy,  because 
it  ends  unhappily,  while  its  first  author  wanted  to  call  it  • 
comedy  because  it  begins  pleasantly.  I  therefore  prefer 
choose  a  middle  term  and  call  it  a  tragi-comedy2." 

1  We  first  meet  in  France  with  this  hard  and  fast  division  in  Peletier's  L 
Podique  (1555).     Au  lieu  des  personnes  comiques  qui  sont  de  basse  condition  a 
Tragedie  s'inlroduisent  Rois,  Princes  et  grattds  Seigneurs.       lit  au  lieu  qu'en 
Comedie  les  choses  ont  joyeuse  issue,  en  la  Tragedie  la  fin  est  tousjours  luctucus  t 
lamentable,  ou  horrible  a  voir. ...La  comedie  parte  faci/ement,  et  comme  nous  az  » 
dit,  populairement.     La  tragedie  est  sublime,  capable  de  grander  matures  (p.    . 
Scaliger  (1561)  says  of  tragedy:  Reges  principes,  Exitus  horribiles,  Oratio  grm 
(1.  vi.)  ;    of  comedy  :    Exitu  laelum,  stilo  populari  (1.  v.).     So  Vauquelin  :    I 
tout  ainsi  qu'eu  Vune  ne  sont  introduits  que  Roys  et  Princes  Hen  nourris  et  bicn 
apris,  aussi  en  Vautre  ne  se  voient  que  des  personnages  vulgaires  et  de  moyenne 
condition,  qui  pour  avoir  debauche  et  suborne"  une  fille  ne  font  cas  de  Vepouser  pour 
couvrir  leurfaitte  et  eviler  la  punition  du  peche  :  et  tousjours  fi rent  en  noces  ou  autre 
conteniemenl  cette  comedie.      Discours  sur  la  Satyr e  in  Diverses  poesies,    i.    125. 
Aristotle   merely  says,  'H    oe  Kcofxt^Sia  earl   fj.i/x7]<TLs  <(>av\oTepuu  (an  imitation  of 
persons  of  a  lower  type). 

2  Compare  with  this  the  prologue  to  Plautus's  Amphitryo  in  which  Mercurius 
says  : 

Faciam  ut  commixta  sit  haec  tragicomoedia  : 

Nam  me  perpetuo  facere  ul  sit  comoedia, 

Reges  quo  ueniant  et  di,  non  par  arbitror. 

Quid  igitur  ?   quoniam  hie  seruos  quoque  partes  habel, 

Faciam  sit,  proinde  ut  dixi,  tragicomoedia. 


XIX]  THE    RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  99 

In  France  the  name  first  occurs  in  the  title  of  a  play 
published  in  1554,  Tragique-comedie  de  Vhomtne  justifit  par 
Foi,  by  Henri  de  Barran1,  but  neither  this  play  nor  a  tragi- 
comedie  by  Antoine  de  la  Croix  on  the  subject  of  the  Three 
Children  and  the  fiery  furnace  (1561)'2,  both  the  work  of 
Protestants,  is  anything  more  than  an  old-fashioned  morality 
and  mystery  under  a  new  name.  The  first  use  of  the  term  in 
France  to  denote  an  irregular  drama,  that  is  to  say  a  play  that  ^y^ 
jsjieither^a  classical  tragedy  nor  a  classical  comedy,  belongs 
to  the  year  1564,  when  according  to  Brantome  and  Castelnau 
a  tragi-comedie  on  the  subject  of  "La  belle  Genievre"  of  Ariosto 
was  played  at  Fontainebleau  on  Shrove  Tuesday  by  the 
princesses3.  All  trace  of  this  play,  if  it  was  ever  published. 
has  been  lost,  but  the  same  source  furnished  Gamier  with  the 
subject  for  his  tragi-comedie  of  nearly  twenty  years  later. 

Earlier  in  date  than  Garnier's  play  is  a  tragi-comedie  of  a 

Very  different  type,  the  Lucelle  of  Louis  le  Jars,  written   in 

Ctirose    and    published   in    15764.      The    subject   is    briefly  as 

Mows.     Lucelle,  who  is  wooed  by  a  wealthy  suitor,  secretly 

exirries  her  father's  clerk.     The  father,  on   discovering  them 

'  tether,  makes  them  both  drink  poison,  which,  in  violation  of 

\  classical  tradition,  they  do  on  the  stage.     The  clerk  then 

Tis  out  to  be  the  son  of  a  Polish  prince  and  the  poison  to 

.  merely  a  sleeping-draught.     The  construction  of  the  play 

tog. 

plpjc  Jert  (p-  r3[)  gives  also  as  instances  of  tragi-comedies  a  Latin  play,  Fernandas 
0f  "■="=*/«.?,  written  by  Verardi  in  Italy  at  the  end  of  the  15th  cent.,  some  of  the  plays 
r-.'J!ie  Portuguese  dramatist,  Gil  Vicente  (fl.  15 14-1 557)  and  the  '  tragical  comedy  ' 
rAppius  and  Virginia  (said  to  have  been  acted  as  early  as  1563). 
<-  Vauquelin  says  : 

Quand  il  y  a  die  meurtre  et  qtfon  voit  toutefois, 
Qu'd  la  fin  sont  contens  les  plus  grands  et  les  A'oi's, 
Quand  du  grave  et  du  das  le  parler  en  mendie, 
On  abuse  du  nom  de   Tragecomedie. 

A.   P.  iii.   165-8. 
Sir  P.  Sidney  in  his  Apologie  speaks  of  the   '  mungrell  Tragy-comedic  '  which 
results  from  the  mingling  of  Kings  and  Clowns. 

1  See  E.  Picot  in  Bull,  du  prot.  franc.  1892,  pp.  626  ff. 

2  Bib.  Nat.  (bound  up  in  the  same  volume  with  Philaniri). 

3  See  J.  Madeleine  in  Rev.  de  la  Renaissance,  190,',,  .',o  ff. 

4  I  have  only  seen  the  edition  published  at  Rouen  in  1600. 

7—2 


100 


THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 


is  extremely  crude,  and  the  language  often  stilted  and 
pedantic.  The  comic  element  is  furnished  by  a  tiresome 
valet  who  aspires  to  be  a  wit1.  The  author  in  his  dedicatory 
preface  defends  the  use  of  prose  on  the  ground  that  it  is  more 
natural,  especially  in  the  mouths  of  valets  and  chambermaids. 
Moreover,  he  naively  adds,  writers  who  have  no  aptitude  for 
verse  find  it  easier. 

If  Lucelle  is  a  drame  bourgeois  Garnier'sjragbgumedy  of 
Bradamante.  like  Corneille's  Don  Sanche  and  Moliere's  Don 
77".- ;v/.-  ,/V  Wivarre,  is  a  comedic  hcroiquc.     The  subject  is  taken 
from  the  last  three  cantos  of  the  Orlando  Furioso.     Brada- 
mante,  the  daughter  of  Aymon  and  Beatrix,  has  two  suitors, 
Leon  the  eldest  son  of  the  Greek  Emperor  and   Roger  the 
converted  Saracen,  whose  love  she  reciprocates.     Her  paren; 
want  her  to  marry  Leon,  but  before  the  Emperor  CharlemagaS 
will  give  his  consent  he  insists  that  Leon,  in  accordance  vne 
a    condition    previously    agreed    upon,    must    first    vanq^se 
Bradamante   in   single    combat.      Leon    knows    that    thjt  . 
beyond  his  powers.     He  therefore  asks  Roger,  whose  lir 
had   saved   by  helping  him  to   escape  from  prison  whe 
was  under  sentence  of  death,  and  of  whose  love  for  B 
mante  he  is  ignorant,  to  take  his  place  and  fight  unck  ,; 
name  and  arms.     Roger,  bound  by  his  sense  of  oblig  „ 
consents.     He    fights    with    Bradamante,    and    without  pht 
acting   on    the    offensive    is    proclaimed    the    victor.         ' ie 
Roger's  sister  Marphire  declares  that  Bradamante  had  g  '*t 
him  a  promise  of  marriage,  and  that  Leon  must  fight   .'^r 
him   for  her  hand.     This    leads    to   Leon's  discovery  of  f" 
friend's  passion  and  to  his  renunciation  of  Bradamante  in  /'* 
favour.     Ambassadors    from    Bulgaria    now    arrive    to    off* 
Roger  the  crown  of  that  country  ;  Bradamante's  parents  are 
satisfied  ;    and   Leon  is  consoled  with   the  hand  of   Charle- 
magne's daughter. 

It  will  be  seen  that  there  is  here  plenty  of  material  for  a 
romantic  drama,  and   on  the  whole    Gamier  has    acquitted 

1  The  play  is  said  to  be  imitated  from  the  Amor  costante  of  Alessandro 
Piccolomini,  bishop  in  partibus  of  Patras  (see  F.  Flamini,  //  Cinqtucento, 
p.  559)- 


XIX]  THE    RENAISSANCE   DRAMA 


101 


himself  fairly  well  in  its  construction.  Though  there  are 
some  obscurities  in  the  developement  of  the  action,  and 
though  the  Fifth  Act— as  in  many  good  plays — is  decidedly 
inferior  to  the  rest,  there  is  not  only  life  anrl  rnov^'^Tnt  but 
real  dramatic  action1.  It  was  a  great  advantage  to  Gamier 
to  have  chosen  a  modem  subject,  for  it  enabled  him  to  a 
considerable  extent  to  shake  himselffree  from  the  baleful 
influence  of  Seneca.     There  are  still   long  monologues  and 


still    a    goodly   crop    of    sententious    maxims,    and    it    is    in 

accordance    with   the   practice   of   Renaissance    tragedy  that 

Roger  and  Bradamante  should  not  meet  till  the  last  Scene, 

and   that   then   they  should   not   speak  to  each  other.     But, 

.apart  from  these  survivals,  there  is  great  improvements    The 

^i°?H9   is  natural   and   expressive  ;    above   all   it   does   not 

su.nsist  merely  of  rhetorical  or  lyrical  outbursts,  but  it  really 

iduces  to  the  developement  of  the  action.     The  first  two 

Xver'mes  of  the  Second  Act,  that  between  Aymon  and  Beatrix, 

euros'  that  between   Aymon   and  his    son    Renaud,  are   really 

'orient.     The  different  dispositions  of  Aymon  and  his  wife 

exi  rrvell  brought  out,  and  the  dialogue  is  spirited  with  a  vein 

J^etlue  comedy  in  it.     Sometimes  indeed  there  is  an  uninten- 

-  cil  comic  element,  for  Gamier  does  not  always  hit  off  the 

ns  tone  of  heroic  comedy,  the  mean  between  that  of  tragedy 

:  rr  that  of  burlesque. 

tog.      This  play  then  with  its  subject  taken  from  modern  romance, 

Plpts  happy  ending,  and  its  somewhat  familiar  style,  anticipates 

..  n_a_ considerable  measure  the,  tragi-comedies   of_ Alexandre 

Hardy^,  which  took  possession  of  the  stage  rather  more  than  a 

quarter  of  a  century  later. 

1  Gamier  contemplates  the  possibility  of  its   being  acted,  and  it  was  in  fact 
acted  early  in  the  next  century.     See  Rigal  in   Petit  de  Julleville,  ill.    269  n.  1. 


102 


THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 


2.     Comedy. 

The  developement  of  French  Renaissance  comedy  pro- 
ceeded on  somewhat  different  lines  from  that  of  French 
Renaissance  tragedy.  In  the  first  place  it  never  broke  so 
entirely  as  tragedy  did  with  its  mediaeval  predecessor.  This 
was  an  advantage,  for  the  farce  had  at  any  rate  this  in  its 
favour,  that,  unlike  the  mystery  play,  it  was  founded  on  the 
observation  of  real  life.  Secondly,  Renaissance  comedy  had 
in  Plautus  and  Terence  far  superior  classical  models  to  Senec -., 
This  was  especially  the  case  with  Terence,  whose  carefViada- 
unexaggerated  study  of  life,  conscientious  workmansj'suitors, 
unfailing  urbanity  of  style  make,  as  is  generally  the.oger  the 
man  of  talent  and  culture  a  better  master  than  thjr  parene 
original  genius.  Thirdly,  French  comedy  was  infArlemagjs 
a  far  greater  extent  than  tragedy  by  its  Italian  dance  v  he 
fact,  before  long  this  last  influence,  like  that  oft  vanqiise' 
tragedy,  entirely  overshadowed  the  two  others.         lat    thi,t  . 

Italian  comedy,  like  Italian  tragedy,  was  maimose  li,r 
in  its  origin.     Ariosto's   first  play,   the    Cassaria,  ^  whe 
1498,  and  first  performed  in    1508,  is  merely  an    for  B 
of  the  Casina  of  Plautus.     In  the  Suppositi,  producundt.  ; 
following   year,   though    the    scene    is    laid    in    Fer  blig  ,» 
though    there    are    references    to    contemporary    evout  ''-(lt 
the  social  life  of  the  day,  the  classical  influence  is  still .      'r  ie 
and    there   are    liberal    borrowings    from    the    Eunuc.    g  ^t 
Terence  and   the   Captivi  of  Plautus.     It  was   Ariosttt      1 
mainly    determined    the    direction    of    Italian    comedy  :>f  v" 
who    had    the    chief    influence    on    that    of    France,    n  1. 
Suppositi  was,  as   we  have    seen,   translated    twice,   in    ,off< 
and  in  1552,  and  a  translation  of  his  Negromante  was  m;are 
by  Jean  de  la  Taille  about    15601.     His  comedies  are  p^c- 
comedies  of  intrigue ;  that  is  to  say,  the  plot  is  the  first  con- 
sideration, and  such  attempt  as  there  is  in  them  to  portray 
character  is  only  of  secondary  account.     The   heroines   are 
invariably  kept  in  the  background  ;  indeed  in  some  plays  the 
female    character   upon   whom    the   whole    plot    turns    never 
1  Published  in  1573;  (Eitvres,  IV. 


XIX]  THE    RENAISSANCE   DRAMA 


10- 


appears  on  the  stage1.  On  the  other  hand  important  parts 
are  assigned  to  the  servants,  especially  to  the  valet  in  his 
various  forms,  more  or  less  stereotyped,  under  the  influence 
of  the  Arlecchino,  Pedrolino  and  other  types  of  the  popular 
covwicdia  delV  arte. 

This  love  of  stock  characters,  which  had  been  inherent  in 

Italy  ever  since  the  days  of  the  Oscan  fabulae  Atellanae,  and 

of  which  there  are  ample   traces  in  the  comedy  of  Plautus 

and  Terence,  is  a  remarkable  feature  of  Italian  Renaissance 

acr'iedy.     Besides   the   various   types   of  valet,  we   have   the 

Rogern  in  love ;  the  parasite,  modelled   on  Gnatho  in  the 

and   tha'-r,  whose    business    it    is   to   assist    the    lover    in   his 

.apart  froi    the  leno  and  lena  ;  the  soldier  of  fortune,  or  miles 

h. ialogue   ?-t  once  a  swaggerer  and  a  coward;  and  lastly,  the 

su-nsist  me:-  only  type  which  owes   nothing  to  the  classical 

iduces  t 

Xver'mes  of  tl'duct  of  the   play   also    shews    certain    persistent 

ci>ros   that  b'he  scene  invariably  represents  a  public  street  in 

'lo-llent.    situated  the  houses  of  the  principal  characters,  a 

exi.rri/ell  Dr,  arrangement  which   enables    the    dialogue  to   be 

'  tr^etlue  coc  in  the  street  without  any  change  of  scene  being 

-c.lcofi      The  plot   is   largely  developed    by  the    help    of 

•ns  tone  or   asides,  which  are  overheard  by  some  person  to 

:  n"1  thai  iey  are  not  addressed.     As  in  Renaissance  tragedy 

tog.      Thin   often  takes  the  place  of  action,  some  of  it  being 

P1?Ls  hapre  unrepresentable  than  murder'or  suicide.     There  is 

°!  n~, a  c  liberal   use  of  soliloquy3.     Briefly,  the   merits  of  this 

Hard  y  are   its  ingenious  working  out   of  the   plot,  and    its 

°LUarhis  is  no  doubt  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  female  parts  in  Ariosto's  time 

.  always  played  by  men. 
See  P.  Toldo,  Rev.  dliist.  Hit.  v.  246  ff.;  E.  Rigal,  ib.  IV.  161  ff.  Les  person- 

w  conventionnels  de  la  comedie  au  xvie  sikle;  and  for  the  characters  of  the 
commedia  delP  arte,  Arlecchino  and  the  other  types  of  valet,  Pantalone,  // 
capitano,  and  //  dottore,  see  M.  Sand,  Masques  el  Botiffbns,  2  vols,  i860,  and 
K.  Mantzius,  A  History  of  Theatrical  Art  (translated  by  Louise  von  Cossel),  11. 
211 — 268,  1903. 

3  See  for  Italian  comedy  Gaspary,  II.  577  ff.;  V.  de  Amicis,  V  imitanone 
classica  nella  commedia  Italiatia  del  xvi  secolo  in  Annali  della  regia  scuola  wrmali 
superiore  di  Pisa,  II.  1— 151,  Pisa,  1873;  and  for  the  general  characteristics  ol 
Ariosto's  comedies  Gaspary,  ib.  419  ff. 


[04  THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 

lively  and  natural  dialogue,  while  its  defects  are  a  general 
conventionality  and  the  substitution  of  mechanical  artifice 
for  natural  developement.  Under  the  former  defect  may  be 
included  an  indifference  to  morality  too  complete  even  for 
the   Italian  society  of  that  day. 

These  characteristics  apply  not  only  to  Ariosto,  but  to  the 
mass  oi'  Italian  comedies  which  followed  his  pattern.  The 
one  great  production  of  the  period,  Machiavelli's  Mandragola, 
seems  to  have  been  little  known  in  France  ;  moreover,  it  is 
only  by  the  writer's  superior  genius,  by  his  masterly  dissection 
of  character,  his  close  observation  of  manners,  and  his  crisp 
incisive  dialogue  that  his  comedy  rises  superior  to  those  of 
his  contemporaries.  There  is,  however,  one  other  Italian 
comedy  of  this  period  which  calls  for  special  notice,  namely 
Gli  Ingannati,  written  by  an  anonymous  member  of  the 
Sienese  Academy  called  Gli  Intronati,  and  first  performed 
in  1 53 1.  A  translation  of  it  by  Charles  Estienne  appeared 
in  1543,  entitled  Lc  Sacrifice,  and  this  was  republished  in 
1 549  and  1556  under  the  proper  title  of  Les  Abitsez1.  In 
a  long  letter  addressed  to  the  Dauphin,  Estienne  declares 
it  to  be  the  best  imitation  of  the  ancients  that  has  yet 
been  made  in  prose.  It  has  the  usual  stock  characters, 
an  old  man  in  love,  a  pedant,  and  several  valets  ;  but  the 
dialogue  is  lively  and  natural,  there  are  some  excellent  scenes, 
and  the  complicated  plot  is  worked  out  with  great  ingenuity. 
It  also  has  a  special  interest  for  Englishmen  as  being  the 
source  from  which  Shakespeare,  either  directly  or  indirectly, 
derived  that  part  of  Twelfth  Night  which  turns  on  Viola's 
disguise  in  male  attire  and  her  extraordinary  resemblance  to 
her  brother. 

Butjthe ^ fij;st _comedy__qf_  the  French  Renaissance,  Jodelle's 
Ungate,  owes  nothing  to  Italian  comedy,  and  little  to  classical 

1  The  1549  edition  is  in  the  Brit.  Mus. ;  for  those  of  1543  and  1556  see  Cat.  La 
Valli'ere,  II.  nos.  3766-7.  The  name  Sacrifice  is  derived  from  a  poem  prefixed  to 
the  Italian  edition  entitled  II sacrifizio  degli  Intronati  (to  Minerva).  (See  L.  Allacci, 
Dramaturgia,  1755.)  It  was  translated  in  part  by  T.  L.  Peacock,  1862,  whose 
translation  with  a  connecting  outline  to  supply  the  gaps  is  printed  in  the 
Variorum  edition  of  Shakespeare  ed.  H.  H.  Furness,  xm.  341  ff.,  Philadelphia, 
I  <J0  1 . 


XIX]  TIIK    RENAISSANCE    DRAMA 


IO5 


comedy.  It  is  the  direct  descendant  of  the  mediaeval  farce, 
borrowing  from  it  even  its  octosyllabic  metre.  But  it  differs 
from  it  in  one  important  particular  ;  it  is  a  complete  drama 
instead  of  merely  a  single  scene.  For,  as  M.  Gaston  Paris 
points  out,  the  length  of  Patelin,  which  admits  of  its  being 
divided  into  three  acts,  is  exceptional1.  The  typical  farce,  of 
which  the  Farce  nouvelle  die  paste  et  de  la  tarte*  may  be  taken 
as  a  specimen,  is,  says  the  same  authority,  "  a  representation 
in  verse  of  a  scene  in  private  life  ;  it  is  short,  and  has  few 
characters ;  it  generally  introduces  us  to  the  interior  of  a 
lower  middle-class  household,  and  it  especially  delights  in 
depicting  either  the  infidelity  and  deceit  of  women,  or  their 
obstinacy  and  disagreeable  character.  Another  favourite  class 
of  subjects  are  the  tricks  and  stratagems  played  by  clever 
lovers  on  rich  men  of  limited  intelligence3."  This  accurate 
description  of  the  mediaeval  farce  will  enable' us  to  judge  how 
far  Jodelle  is  still  dominated  by  the  old  traditions  with  which 
he  professes  in  his  prologue  to  have  broken  entirely. 

The  plot  of  Etigaie  is  simple,  and,  from  a  reader's  point^- 
of  view,  fairly  well  constructed.  But  there  is  no  attempt  to 
link  the  scenes  together,  so  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  act  on  a 
proper  stage.  The  language  has  considerable  point  and  vigour, 
but  it  is  jerky  and  unequal,  and  not  sufficiently  characteristic 
of  the  speakers.  Jodelle  apologises  for  its  being  more  serious 
than  that  of  a  Latin  comedy,  and  in  fact  the  whole  tone  of 
the  play  is  somewhat  serious  for  a  comedy,  in  the  sense  that 
there  is  nothing  comic  either  in  the  dialogue  or  the  situations. 
It  is  only  in  some  of  the  characters,  in  Jean  the  chaplain 
and  Guillaume  the  wittol  husband,  that  we  find  germs  of  real 
comedy.  And  this  brings  us  to  the  chief  merit  of  the  play, 
that  it  is  a  genuine  and  not  wholly  unsuccessful  attempt  to 
portray  character.  Besides  Jean  and  Guillaume,  we  have 
Eugene,  an  Epicurean  abbe,  who  gives  the  title  to  the  play, 
his  sister  Helene,  an  officer  Florimond,  and  his  servant 
Arnauld,    a   usurer   Matthieu,    and   lastly,   Alix,   the    wife  of 

1  La  poesie  du  moyen  a^e,  ima  ser.  p.  252. 

'-'  Printed  by  P.  Toynbee,  Specimens  of  Old  French,  pp.  3 27  It'. 

3  G.  Paris,  op.  cit.  p.  251. 


io6 


THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 


Guillaume  and  the  mistress  of  Florimond  and  Eugene.  All 
of  these,  with  the  exception  of  Alix,  who  is  wholly  con- 
ventional, represent  with  fair  success  types  of  contemporary 
society.  Moreover  in  the  first  scene,  a  dialogue  between 
Eugene  and  Jean,  we  find  the  germ  of  that  social  satire 
which  became  the  groundwork  of  Moliere's  comedy.  On 
the  other  hand  Jodelle  makes  no  attempt,  as  Moliere  does, 
to  reform  the  world.  Regarded  as  a  criticism  of  life  nothing 
could  be  more  immoral  than  his  play,  but  it  is  charitable  to 
suppose  that  neither  author  nor  audience  was  more  concerned 
with  its  moral  aspect  than  a  modern  spectator  is  with  that  of 
Punch  and  Judy1.  In  this  as  in  other  respects  Jodelle  is  no 
doubt  merely  carrying  on  the  tradition  of  the  mediaeval  farce-— 

Grevin's  first  comedy,  La  Tresoriere^vs,  in  no  way  remark- 
able. It  is  the  story  of  a  commonplace  intrigue  worked  out 
by  means  of  narrative  rather  than  action2.  It  is,  however, 
unfair  to  speak  of  it  as  a  mere  rechauffe  of  Eugene,  to  which 
it  bears  no  real  resemblance.  His  second  corned}-,  Les  Esba/us, 
was  played  at  the  College  of  Beauvais  on  the  same  day  as  his 
tragedy  of  Cesar,  namely  February  16,  1560.  It  shows  far 
more  comic  power  than  Jodelle's  play,  but  in  other  respects 
it  is  an  advance  in  a  wrong  direction.  The  plot  is  more 
intricate,  and  the  author  is  evidently  more  concerned  with  its 
management,  in  which  he  is  fairly  successful,  than  with  the 
study  of  character.  Both  subject  and  characters  belong  to 
the  conventional  repertoire  of  Italian  comedy.  Josse  is  the 
amorous  old  man,  Julien  the  loquacious  and  sententious  valet, 
and  Panthaleone (in  spite  of  his  name)  the  swaggering  soldier 
of  fortune.  But  whereas  on  the  Italian  stage  this  last  character 
is  generally  a  Spaniard,  here  he  is  an  Italian,  and  serves  as 
an  occasion  for  pungent  attacks  on  the  country  to  which  the 
play  is  so  largely  indebted3: 

!  It  is  the  conduct  of  Helene,  the  one  virtuous  character  in  the  piece,  which 
makes  the  play  repulsive,  if  you  regard  it  seriously.  It  is  the  same  with  Lucrezia 
in  the  Mandragola,  but  Machiavelli  writes  as  a  cold-blooded  observer  of  con- 
temporary life. 

2  It  is  printed  in  Les  poetes  francais,  IV. 

3  Though  doubtless  Grevin  owed  something  to  a  study  of  Les  Abusez,  his  play 
can  hardly  be  called  an  imitation  of  it. 


XIX]  THE    RENAISSANCE    DRAMA  IO7 

Pensez-vous  le  Frangois  si  sot, 
Ou'il  n'egalle  bien  en  parolle 
Toute  l'apparence  frivolle 
De  vostre  langue  effeminee, 
Qui,  comme  une  espesse  fumee, 
Nous  donnant  au  commencement 
Un  effroyable  estonnement, 
A  la  parfin  s'esvanouit 
Avecque  le  vent  qui  la  suit  ? 
Nostre  France  est  trop  abbruvee 
De  vostre  feinte  controuvee 
Et  deceptive  intention1. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  Belleau's  comedy,  La  Reconnue,  there 
is_no  trace  of  Italian  influence.  Though  not  published  till 
1578,  the  year  after  his  death,  it  was  written  at  a  much  earlier 
date,  probably  not  long  after  Eugene.  It  is  better  written  on 
the  whole  than  either  that  play  or  Grevin's,  and,  as  one  might 
expect  from  the  author's  other  work,  it  shews  a  considerable 
faculty  for  close  observation,  especially  of  external  objects. 
Nor  is  it  wanting  in  satirical  power.  But  as  a  play  it  is  a 
complete  failure ;  it  is  a  mere  succession  of  scenes,  strung 
together  on  a  loose  thread  of  plot.  Except  in  length  it  differs 
little  from  a  mediaeval  farce. 

All  these  comedies  are,  like  Eugene,  written  in  octosyllabic 
verse,  a  vehicle  which  lends  itself  readily  to  diffuse  and  nerve- 
less writing.  But  Jean  de  la  Taille,  in  his  play  of  Lis  Corrivaux, 
written  about  15622,  though  not  published  till  1573,  followed 
the  Italian  fashion  of  writing  in  prose,  and  with  considerable 
success.  His  language  is  at  once  appropriate  to  the  charac- 
ters, easy,  lively,  and  fairly  amusing.  In  point  of  morality  he 
is  decidedly  superior  to  his  predecessors,  as  his  play  shews 
some  feeling  for  the  serious  side  of  life.  But  in  other  respects 
it  belongs  to  the  same  type  as  Les  Esbahis,  with  even  less 
attempt  at  the  portrayal  of  character.  The  three  old  men, 
the  two  lovers,  and  the  four  valets  are  all  purely  conventional, 
with  little  or  nothing  to  distinguish  the  different  specimens  of 
each  class.     Nor  is  the  play  at  all  suited  to  the  stage,  for  the 

1  Act  V.  Sc.  4. 

2  It  is  praised  by  his  brother  Jacques,  who  died  in  that  year;  moreover  the 
scene  is  laid  about  ten  years  after  the  entry  of  Henry  II  into  Met/,  in  1552. 


to8 


THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 


chief  incidents  are  narrated  instead  of  being  acted.  In  his 
prologue  Jean  de  la  Taille  adopts  an  attitude  of  uncompro- 
mising hostility  to  the  old  farces  and  moralities,  and  professes 
that  his  comedy  is  modelled  on  the  ancient  Greeks  and  Latins 
and  on  some  modern  Italians.  This  is  so  far  true  in  that  it 
shews  more  trace  of  Latin  influence,  especially  of  Terence, 
than  any  of  its  predecessors. 

It  was  not  long  after  the  Corrivaux  was  written  that  Baif 
proceeded  to  translate  or  adapt  some  of  the  comedies  of 
Plautus  and  Terence,  viz.  the  Eunuchus  (1565)1  and  the 
Heantontimoroumenos*  of  Terence  and  the  Miles  Gloriosus  of 
Plautus.  His  adaptation  of  the  latter,  which  he  entitled 
Le  Brave,  is  a  free  and  amplified  rendering  of  the  text,  with 
French  names  of  persons  and  places  substituted  for  those  of 
the  original.  Athens,  for  instance,  becomes  Nantes.  The 
play  thus  adapted  with  considerable  skill  to  the  taste  of  a 
French  audience  was  given  before  Charles  IX  at  the  Hotel 
de  Guise  on  January  28,  1567 ::. 

Four  years  after  this  performance  French  Renaissance 
comedy  encountered  a  formidable  rival  for  the  patronage  of 
the  court  in  an  Italian  company  of  actors  called  /  Gelosi, 
who  paid  a  visit  to  Paris  in  1571,  remaining  there  till  the 
following  year.  In  1577  Henry  III,  who  had  seen  their 
performances  in  Venice  on  his  return  from  Poland,  persuaded 
them  to  pay  a  second  visit,  which  lasted  till  May,  1578. 
Another  Italian  company,  /  Confidcnti,  came  to  France  in 
1572,  and  again  in   1584  and   15854. 

This  trend  of  public  favour,  at  any  rate  among  the 
lettered   classes,  in  the  direction  of  Italian   comedy,   is  also 

1  Published  in  1573  m  v°l-  HI.  oiLes/eux. 
-  Baif 's  version  of  this  is  lost. 

3  Published   in   the    same  year,  and    reprinted  in  vol.    III.   of  Les  Jcux  ;    see 
Marty- Laveaux's  edition,  III.  283  ff. 

4  Ch.  Magnin,  Les  commencemens  de  la  comedie  Italienne  en  Frame  in  A\ 
deux  mondes,  xx.  (1847),  1090  ft. ;  A.  Baschet,  Les  comediens  italiens  a  la  cour  de 
France,  1882.  Lord  Buckhurst,  the  author  of  Gorboduc,  witnessed  a  performance 
at  Paris  in  March  1571  (Cat.  of  Slate  Papers,  Elizabeth,  1569-71,  p.  413).  There 
was  one  at  Blois  on  Jan.  25,  1577  and  one  at  Paris  in  October  of  the  same  year 
(P.  de  L'Estoile,  Journal,  1.  179,  192,  201). 


XIX]  THE    RENAISSANCE   DRAMA 


109 


shewn  by  the  fact  that  the  best  known  and  most  voluminous 
writer  of  French  Renaissance  comedy,  Pierre  de  Larivey, 
made  his  reputation  by  merely  adapting  Italian  plays,  while 
the  unsuitability  of  these  adaptations  for  representation  testifies 
to  the  withdrawal  of  comedy  from  the  stage. 

Born  in  Champagne  (probably  at  Troyes),  of  Italian 
parents,  Pierre  de  Larivey  began  his  literary  career  by  trans- 
lating various  Italian  authors,  Straparola,  Firenzuola,  Doni1. 
He  then  turned  his  attention  to  comedy,  and  published  in 
1595  six  plays  with  a  general  acknowledgement  to  certain 
Italian  writers,  but  without  mentioning  the  particular  plays 
to  which  he  was  indebted.  As  a  matter  of  fact  all  the  plays 
were  translated  or  adapted  from  Italian  originals,  with  modi- 
fications to  suit  the  taste  of  French  readers.  Thus,  as  in 
Baif 's  Le  Brave^  the  characters  received  French  names,  and 
the  scene  was  laid  in  France.  Moreover  a  few  scenes  and 
minor  characters  were  suppressed.  It  is  a  process  with  which 
we  are  quite  familiar  in  England.  The  plays  selected  by 
Larivey  are  all  of  the  ordinary  Italian  type,  pure  comedies  of 
intrigue,  the  plot  in  every  case  being  a  variation  of  the  theme 
referred  to  by  Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye  as  the  staple  of 
comedy2.  The  characters,  equally  conventional,  are,  as  a 
rule,  mere  puppets,  who  move  in  a  sordid  world  unrelieved 
by  a  glimmer  of  virtue  or  even  of  passion.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  intrigue  is  worked  out  with  considerable  ingenuity, 
though,  in  Larivey's  versions  at  any  rate,  there  is  little  or 
no  regard  for  the  requirements  of  the  stage.  But  the  great 
merit  is  in  the  language,  and  of  this  a  large  share  falls  to  the 
adapter.  It  is  true  that  he  is  merely  a  translator,  indebted  to 
his  models  for  ideas,  sentiments,  and  even  expression  ;  but 
he  writes  in  excellent  French,  and  in  a  language  which  is  at 
once  colloquial,  natural,  expressive  and  amusing,  the  language 
of  true  comedy. 

Of  the  individual  plays  the  best  known  and  the  best  is 

1  The  family  name  of  Giunti  was  gallicised  into   L'Arrive  or  Larivey.      Our 
only  authority  for  the  little  that  is  known  of  Larivey's  life  is  P.  Grosley,  Q 
inedites,  1.  19,  18 12. 

2  See  ante,  p.  98. 


II0  THE    RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 

Les  Esprits,  a  version  of  the  Aridosio  of  Lorenzino  de'  Medici, 
itself  based  on  the  Aidularia  and  the  Mostellaria  of  Plautus 
and  the  Adelphi  of  Terence.  The  merits  of  the  plot  are 
mainly  due  to  the  Latin  originals,  but  Larivey  has  shewn 
more  independence  than  usual  in  his  treatment  of  his  imme- 
diate model1.  Ruffin,  whose  profession  may  be  gathered  from 
his  name,  is  an  amusing  scoundrel,  descended  from  Plautus's 
Ballio2,  while  the  valet  Frontin  is  no  unworthy  prototype  of 
Mascarille.  Of  the  other  plays,  seeing  they  are  mere  adap- 
tations, there  is  not  much  to  be  said.  There  are  some  good 
scenes  in  Les  Jalonx,  a  translation  of  the  Gelosi  of  Vincenzo 
Gabiani,  and  there  is  some  extravagant  fun  in  Le  Morfondu, 
a  translation  of  La  Gelosia  of  Grazzini,  better  known  as 
II  Lasca.  The  remaining  three  are  more  reprehensible  in 
subject,  and  have  little  merit  except  that  of  language.  One 
of  them  in  particular,  Les  Escoliers,  which  in  point  of  style 
ranks  next  to  Les  Esprits,  is  so  unsuited  to  the  stage  as  to 
make  it  difficult  to  believe  that  Larivey  had  any  idea  of  its 
being  acted3. 

In  161 1  he  published  three  more  plays,  Le  Fidelle,  Constance 
and  Les  Tromperies*.  They  are  much  longer  than  the  others, 
and  greatly  inferior  even  in  point  of  language,  which  has 
become  stilted  and  affected.  If,  as  appears,  they  were  origi- 
nally written  about  the  same  time  as  the  others,  they  were 
doubtless  revised  under  the  influence  of  the  tragi-comedies 
which  were  just  coming  into  fashion.     Larivey  died  probably 

1  IS  Aridosio  is  published  in  vol.  I.  of  Teatro  italiano  anlico,  Florence  1888. 
Larivey  suppresses  five  minor  characters,  and  alters  Ser  Jacomo  prete  to 
M.  Josse  sorcier.  A  good  deal  of  Act  I.  Sc.  3  is  original,  while  such  phrases  as 
elk  eut  la  terre  stir  le  bee  (  —  si  morl) ;  je  resemble  anx  archevesques,  jc  ne  marche 
point  si  la  croix  ne  va  devant  are  of  his  own  coinage. 

2  The  leno  of  the  Pseudolus  ;  it  is  said  to  have  been  the  favourite  part  of 
Roscius. 

3  Les  Escoliers  is  a  translation  of  La  Zecca,  a  youthful  production  of  Girolamo 
Razzi,  who  afterwards  became  a  monk.  Of  the  other  two  Le  Laquais  represents 
Dolce's  //  Ragazzo  and  La  Veuve  Niccolo  Buonaparte's  La  Vedova. 

4  In  his  dedication  Larivey  speaks  of  having  found  them  with  three  others 
loutes  chargees  de  poussiere,  mal  en  ordre,  et  ayans  quasi  leurs  habits  entiacment 
rompus  et  deschirez.  Le  Fidelle  is  about  twice  as  long  as  his  ordinary  plays,  very 
tedious,  and  badly  written. 


XIX]  THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  III 

soon  after  this  publication,  for  already  in  1603  ne  is  spoken 
of  as  a  venerable  old  man.  He  was  in  priest's  orders  and  a 
canon  of  St  Etienne  of  Troyes1. 

The  high-water  mark  of  French  Renaissance  comedy  is 
reached  in  Les  Contents  of  Odet  de  Turnebe,  a  son  of  the 
great  Hellenist,  who  died  in  1581  at  the  age  of  twenty-eio-ht. 
It  was  written  about  1580,  though  not  published  till  1584. 
The  plot,  of  which  some  incidents  are  borrowed  from  Grevin's 
Les  Esba/iis,  and  others  from  the  Alessandro  of  Alessandro 
Ficcolomini,  is  mainly  conventional  and  wholly  improbable, 
but  it  is  not  too  intricate,  and  it  is  well  worked  out.  Not 
less  conventional  is  the  conduct  of  the  play.  The  whole 
dialogue  takes  place  in  the  street,  and  there  is  a  liberal  use  of 
asides.  But  in  spite  of  this  conventional  scaffold  the  play 
rises  into  the  region  of  true  comedy.  In  the  first  place  it  has 
a  moral  atmosphere,  a  feature  wholly  absent  in  the  other 
comedies  of  the  period,  with  the  one  exception  perhaps  of  Jean 
de  la  Taille's  Corrivaux.  It  is  true  that  the  lover's  courtship 
is  conducted  by  the  method  which  had  become  stereotyped 
in  Renaissance  comedy,  but  it  is  a  distinct  advance  in  morality 
that  the  girl  should  hesitate,  that  her  mother  should  be 
shocked,  and  that  the  lover  should  apologise.  Secondly, 
there  are  at  least  two  characters  who  stand  upon  their  feet, 
Rodomont,  the  swaggering  soldier  of  fortune,  and  Francoise, 
an  elderly  lady  of  doubtful  occupation,  who  foreshadows 
Regnier's  Macette  and  Moliere's  Frosine.  Thirdly,  the  play 
is  thoroughly  national  in  tone,  and  even  to  some  extent  a 
serious    study   of    manners.     Lastly,  the   dialogue  is  always 

1  It  is  an  interesting  question  to  what  extent  Moliere  was  indebted  to  Larivey. 
An  instance  which  appears  almost  certain,  unless  Moliere  was  acquainted  with 
the  Italian  original,  is  the  scene  in  Les  Femmes  savantes  (Act  II.  Sc.  6),  in  which 
the  servant,  Martine,  is  taken  to  task  for  her  bad  grammar  and  which  corresponds 
to  a  similar  scene  in  Le  Fidelle  (11.  14)  between  a  servant  and  a  pedant.  In 
L'Avare  numerous  borrowings  from  Les  Esprits  have  been  noticed,  hut  in  nearly 
all  the  cases  the  resemblance  is  very  slight.  In  one,  however  (1.  3  and  4- 11.  3), 
the  debt  is  obvious,  and  in  the  famous  scene  (iv.  7)  in  which  the  misei 
that  he  has  been  robbed,  though  Moliere's  principal  model  is  Plautus,  he  may 
also  be  indebted  to  Les  Esprits,  in.  6.  See  G.  Wenzel  in  Archiv  fur  neueren 
Spy.  unci  Litt.  lxxxii.  (1889)  63  ff. ;  L'Avare,  ed.  E.  G.  W.  BraunholU,  1897, 
p.  xli. 


H2  THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 

lively  and  natural,  and  is  written  in  easy  and  correct 
language.  M.  Rigal  finds  traces  of  the  influence  of  the 
Celestina,  a  new  French  translation  of  which  by  Jacques  de 
Lavardin  had  appeared  in  1578-  But  it  is  open  to  doubt 
whether  this  work  of  true  genius,  with  its  strange  blending  of 
pedantry  and  passion,  with  its  romantic  conception  and  realistic 
execution,  which  reminds  one  partly  of  Romeo  and  Juliet 
and  partly  of  the  tavern-scene  in  the  second  part  of  Henry  IV, 
highly  popular  though  it  undoubtedly  was  in  France,  could 
have  served  as  a  model  to  French  writers.  It  was  far  more 
likely  that  they  should  go  to  Italian  comedy  for  their 
Guillemettes  and  their  Francoises  than  to  the  incomparable 
Celestina1. 

The  Ncapolitaines  of  Francois  d'Amboise,  an  advocate  of 
the  Paris  Parliament,  to  whom  Larivey  dedicated  his  plays, 
was  published  in  the  same  year  (1584)  as  Les  Contents, 
though  written  considerably  earlier.  It  is  in  every  way 
inferior.  The  plot  is  dull  and  the  denoument  feeble.  The 
dialogue,  though  well  written,  is  wanting  in  vivacity  and 
vigour,  and  there  is  too  much  soliloquy.  Don  Dieghos,  the 
Spanish  adventurer,  is  by  no  means  the  equal  of  Rodomont, 
and  the  only  character  that  has  any  claim  to  originality  is 
Angelique,  a  sentimental  sinner  of  the  modern  romantic  type, 
who  might  almost  have  figured  in  a  play  by  the  younger 
Dumas. 

The  superiority  of  the  prose  comedies  did  not  altogether 
drive  from  the  field  the  comedy  written  in  octosyllabic  verse. 
In  1586  Francois  Perrin,  a  learned  Canon  of  the  cathedral 
of  Autun,  published  a  comedy,  which,  like  one  of  those  of 
his  brother  Canon  of  Troyes,  was  entitled  Les  Esco/iers-.  It 
shews  no  knowledge  of  the  stage,  but  the  language  is  clear 
and  agreeable  and  free  from  coarseness,  and  the  dialogue  is 
confined  to  its  proper  business  of  working  out  the  plot.     As 

1  P.  Toldo  points  out  that  the  ruffiana  of  Italian  comedy  differs  from  the  Una 
of  classical  comedy  in  being  sometimes  a  sorceress  and  nearly  always  a  religious 
hypocrite  {Rev.  delist,  litt.  v.  247). 

-  He  also  published  sonnets  (1574),  quatrains  (1587)  and  two  tragedies, 
Sichem  ravisseicr  (1589)  and  Senaccherib  (1599).  He  died  in  1606.  (See  the 
notice  prefixed  to  the  Brussels  edition.) 


XIX]  THE    RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  II3 

the  title  implies  the  scene  is  laid  in  a  University  town,  and 
there  is  some  sort  of  attempt  to  portray  the  social  life  of  the 
period.  This,  as  well  as  the  simplicity  of  the  action,  recall 
Eugene  rather  than  the  later  comedies  written  under  Italian 
influence.  The  author's  statement  that  he  found  the  play 
among  a  heap  of  old  papers  would  seem  to  imply  that  it  was 
a  youii7ful  work. 

On  the  other  hand,  Jean  Godard's  Les  Desguisez,  published 
in  1594,  and  also  written  in  octosyllables,  shews  a  strong 
Italian  influence,  being  founded  on  Ariosto's  Suppositi,  though 
it  cannot  fairly  be  called  an  imitation  of  it.  It  has  some 
action  of  a  boisterous  and  farcical  kind,  and  for  a  wonder  is 
neither  immoral  nor  indecent,  but  it  is  without  real  merit. 
A  special  defect  is  the  abuse  of  soliloquy  in  a  half-rhetorical, 
half-lyrical  form,  the  very  defect  which  is  so  noticeable  in 
Renaissance  tragedy. 

Finally,  there  may  be  mentioned  a  somewhat  absurd,  but 
far  from  amusing  play  entitled  Le  mnet  znsense,  published  in 
1576  by  Pierre  le  Loyer,  a  native  of  Anjou  and  a  councillor 
of  the  presidial  court  of  Angers1.  He  was  a  man  of  consider- 
able learning,  and  his  prologue  is  full  of  references  to  Greek 
and  Latin  writers  of  comedy.  But  his  own  play  shews 
decided  traces  of  mediaeval  influence.  Some  of  the  charac- 
ters, the  Scholar,  the  Astrologer,  are  unnamed,  and  one  is 
entitled  Le  Diable,  muette  pcrsonne.  The  style  of  the  octosyllabic 
verse  is  easy  and  good,  but  otherwise  the  play  has  little  merit. 
Le  Loyer  also  wrote  a  comedy  entitled  La  Nephelococugie  in 
the  manner  of  Aristophanes2. 

Thus,  except  for  the  plays  of  Montchrestien,  it  may  be 
said  that  both  the  tragedy  and  the  comedy  of  the  French 
Renaissance  came  to  an  end  soon  after  the  year  1580.  Both 
had  achieved  one  thing,  a  style.  The  verse  of  Gamier  and 
the  prose  of  Odet  de  Turnebe  and  Larivey  only  require  a  more 
refined  taste  and  a  more  rigid  self-criticism  to  make  them 
admirably  suited  to  their  respective  tasks.  But  beyond  this 
little  had  been  done.     There  is  a  really  tragic  note  in  Les  J '/tires, 

1  b.  1550— d.  1634. 

2  See  E.  Egger,  V  Hellcnisme  en  France,  II.  12,  1869. 

T.  II.  8 


H4  THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 

there  is  humorous  study  of  character  in  Les  Contents,  and 
there  is  some  attempt  at  dramatic  action  in  the  romantic 
drama  of  Bradamante,  but  these  stand  practically  alone. 
Quite  apart  from  the  question  of  stage  representation,  in 
which  the  writers  naturally  failed  from  want  of  experience, 
both  Tragedy  and  Comedy  are  lacking  in  that  connexion  with 
life  which  is  the  basis  of  all  true  drama.  Yet  Jodelle  started 
on  the  right  path.  With  all  their  crudeness  of  execution 
and  style  both  his  tragedy  and  his  comedy  have  the  root  of 
the  matter  in  them.  Cleopatre  and  Eugene  alike  carry  out 
their  purpose  in  spite  of  adverse  agencies.  They  are  no 
mere  puppets,  jerked  here  and  there  at  the  playwright's 
pleasure.  Cleopatre  sacrifices  her  life,  Eugene  his  sister's 
virtue,  deliberately  and  with  open  eyes.  They  are  both 
actors,  not  passive  agents,  in  life's  drama. 

How  was  it  then  that  with  this  promising  beginning  both 
Tragedy  and  Comedy  made  so  poor  an  ending  ?  The  answer 
is  that  both  were  led  astray  by  false  gods — tragedy  by  Seneca, 
comedy  by  Ariosto.  In  both  cases  it  was  Grevin  who  took 
the  first  decided  step  on  the  wrong  path,  Grevin,  who, 
ignoring  his  predecessor  Jodelle,  prided  himself  on  being  the 
true  pioneer  of  the  classical  drama.  The  result  was  that  both 
Tragedy  and  Comedy  had  to  travel  over  a  long  and  circuitous 
road  before  they  reached  the  goal  of  success.  First  fused 
together  as  Tragi-comedy  they  had  to  learn  in  the  hands  of 
Alexandre  Hardy  the  art  of  the  stage,  losing  in  the  process 
all  traces  of  style  and  distinction.  Then  once  more  they 
had  to  be  separated  and  to  be  re-clothed  in  a  literary  dress. 
Above  all  they  had  to  go  back  to  the  true  starting  point,  the 
study  of  human  nature  and  the  natural  developement  of  human 
action.  This  was  the  work  of  Corneille.  Finally,  when  Moliere 
had  added  to  Corneille's  study  of  abstract  man  the  observa- 
tion of  individual  men,  the  Ecole  des  femtnes  could  take  its 
place  beside  the  Cid.  But  all  this  was  a  work  of  time  ;  it  is 
fifty-four  years  from  Les  Juives  to  the  Cid;  it  is  sixty-eight 
from  Les  Contents  to  the  Ecole  des  femtnes. 


XIX]  THE    RENAISSANCE    DRAMA  rrc 


3.     Pastoral  drama. 

It  remains  to  say  something  about  a  new  type  of  drama, 
the  pastoral,  which  began  to  be  cultivated  towards  the  close 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  Like  the  first  attempts  of  Italian 
pastoral  drama  it  was  in  its  most  rudimentary  form  merely  a 
dramatic  eclogue,  which  was  variously  entitled  an  eclogue, 
a  pastorale,  or  a  bergerie.  Among  the  earliest— if  not  the 
earliest— of  these  are  Ronsard's  third  eclogue,  written  to 
celebrate  the  marriage  of  Claude  of  France  with  the  Duke 
of  Lorraine,  and  a  pastorale  by  Jacques  Grevin  in  honour 
of  the  two  marriages  which  sealed  the  peace  of  Cateau- 
Cambresis.  Both  of  these  belong  to  the  year  1559.  The 
first  Italian  pastoral  drama  of  a  more  developed  type  is 
generally  supposed  to  be  Beccari's  //  Sacrifizio,  represented 
at  Ferrara  in  1554.  In  France  the  same  honour  may 
be  claimed  by  Les  Ombres  of  Nicolas  Filleul,  a  native  of 
Rouen  and  a  professor  at  the  College  of  Harcourt  at  Paris1. 
It  was  performed  at  the  chateau  of  Gaillon  in  Normandy 
on  September  29,  1566,  before  Catharine  de'  Medici  and 
Charles  IX.  A  few  days  previously  there  had  been  a  repre- 
sentation of  four  eclogues  by  the  same  writer.  Except  that 
Les  Ombres  is  in  five  acts  separated  by  choruses,  it  cannot  be 
said  to  be  much  more  dramatic  in  essence  than  the  eclogues. 
But  the  language  is  poetical  and  the  versification  skilful ; 
with  the  help  of  good  music  and  scenery  it  may  well  have 
provided  an  agreeable  entertainment  for  the  illustrious  guc-N 
who  witnessed  it.  The  subject  is  the  usual  one  of  love-sick 
men  and  hard-hearted  maidens.  But  it  should  be  noticed 
that  while  one  pair  of  lovers  is  represented  by  a  shepherd 
and  a  shepherdess,  the  other  pair  consists  of  a  satyr  and  a 
naiad,  and  that  the  satyr  is  not,  as  he  afterwards  became  in 
pastoral  drama,  the  representative  of  biutish  lust.  Another 
character  is  Cupid,  to  whom  is  assigned  a  long  monologue, 
and  by  whose  arrows  the  hearts  of  the  maidens  are  finally 

1  He  also  wrote  two  tragedies,  AchilU  and  La  Lucrfce,  the  latter  of  which  was 
played  on  the  same  day  as  Les  Ombres. 


u6 


THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 


kindled.     The  title  of  the  play  is  derived  from  the  amorous 
Shades  who  form  the  chorus. 

It  does  not  appear  that  this  first  attempt  at  regular  pastoral 
drama  in  France  was  followed  up  for  some  years.  The  next 
mention  of  a  pastoral  play  is  that  of  the  Chaste  bergere  of 
Jacques  de  Fonteny,  printed  in  15781.  But  in  that  year  a 
fresh  impulse  was  given  to  the  production  of  pastoral  litera- 
ture by  the  publication  of  Nicolas  Colin's  translation  of  the 
famous  Spanish  pastoral  romance,  the  Diana  of  Jorge  de 
Montemor2.  Then  in  1584  Pierre  de  Brach  produced  a 
verse  translation  of  Tasso's  Aminta,  which  was  followed  in 
1 593  by  a  prose  version  from  the  pen  of  La  Brosse,  and 
in  1596  by  another  verse  translation  by  G.  Belliard.  The 
first  French  writer  to  be  affected  by  these  impulses  from 
without  was  Nicolas  de  Montreux,  a  gentleman  of  Maine, 
who,  under  the  pseudonym  of  Ollenix  du  Mont-sacre,  pro- 
duced in  succession  three  pastoral  dramas  entitled  Athlette 
(1585),  La  Diane  (1592),  and  L 'Arjmhie  (1597).  He  also 
wrote  in  imitation  of  the  Diana  the  first  French  pastoral 
novel,  Les  bergeries  de  Juliette  (1588)3.  All  his  three  plays 
shew  marked  traces  of  the  influence  of  the  Spanish  romance  ; 
in  all,  especially  the  two  later,  there  is  a  somewhat  compli- 
cated plot,  and  in  all  there  is  a  considerable  element  of  magic 
inspired  by  the  character  of  'the  wise  Felicia.'  On  the  other 
hand,  the  description  of  Athlette  as  a  fable  bocagere  is  a 
reminiscence  of  Aminta,  favola  boscareccia.  By  far  the  most 
elaborate  of  the  three  plays  is  UArimene,  which  was  played 
before  the  Due  de  Mercoeur  in  1596  at  the  famous  chateau  de 
Nantes.  It  has  twelve  characters,  including  a  valet  and  a 
pedant  who  furnish  an  element  of  farce,  and  the  acts  are 
divided  by  intermezzos  on  different  mythological  subjects,  the 
storming  of  heaven  by  the  giants,  the  abduction  of  Helen, 
the  deliverance  of  Andromeda  by  Perseus,  and  the  descent  of 
Orpheus  to  Hell,  all  of  which  must  have  required  machinery 
of  an  elaborate  character. 

1  I  have  not  seen  a  copy  of  this  play. 

2  See  ante,  p.  52,  n.  2. 

3  It  was  translated  into  English  by  Robert  Tofte  (1610). 


XIX]  THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  117 

Nothing  but  a  bare  mention  is  needed  for  La  Dieromene, 
a  prose  pastoral  imitated  from  II  pentimento  amoroso  of  Luigi 
Groto  by  Roland  Brisset  of  Tours  (1596),  who  also  trans- 
lated Guarini's  //  Pastor  fido  (1593)1,  and  for  'a  pastoral 
tragi-comedy '  in  verse,  relating  to  the  loves  of  Mylas  and 
Clorys,  by  Claude  de  Bassecourt,  a  gentleman  of  Hainault 
(1594).  The  latter  is  modelled  on  the  Amiiita,  and  partly 
also  on  the  Pastor  fido.  By  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century 
French  pastoral  drama,  which  during  the  next  decade  had  a 
considerable  vogue,  had  become  thoroughly  stereotyped  both 
in  plot  and  characters,  and  had  lost  all  delicacy  of  sentiment 
and  distinction  of  style2.  Hardy  purged  it  of  some  of  its 
more  absurd  conventionalities,  but  from  161 1  to  1626  its 
popularity  was  on  the  wane.  Then  Jean  Mairet  with  his 
Sylvie  (1626),  which  is  pastoral  only  in  part,  and  his  Silvanire 
(1629),  an  adaptation  of  a  play  of  the  same  name  by  D'Urfe, 
brought  it  again  into  favour  for  a  brief  spell3.  But  in  1634 
the  same  writer's  Sophonisbe  turned  the  current  of  fashion 
towards  tragedy,  and  pastoral  drama  disappeared  from  the 
French  stage. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Editions. 

ESTIENNE  JODELLE,  CEuvres  et  meslanges  poetiques,  1574  (Picot,  I. 
no.  696).  CEuvres,  ed.  Ch.  Marty- La  veaux  (in  La  Pttiade  francaise), 
2  vols.  1868-70.     Ancien  theatre  francais,  iv  (Cleopdtre,  Didon,  Engine), 

Jacques  Grevin,  EOlitnpe  ensemble  les  autres  oeuvres,  1560.  Le 
Theatre,  ensemble  la  seconde  partie  de  FOlimpe  et  de  la  Gelodacrye,  1561. 
Cesar  is  reprinted  together  with  Muret's  Julius  Caesar,  in  Ausgaben  und 
Abhandlungen  aus  dem  Gebiete  der  Rom.  Phil.  no.  52,  Marburg,  1886. 

Jean  Bastier  de  la  Peruse,  La  Mede'e  tragedie.  Et  autres  diverses 
poesies  [1557],  Poitiers;  CEuvres  poitiques,  ed.  Gellibert  des  Scguins, 
1867. 

Andr£  de  Rivaudeau,  Les  CEuvres,  Poitiers,  1566;  ed.  C.  Mourain 
de  Sourdeval,  1859. 

1  Brisset  also  wrote  five  tragedies  of  which  four  were  imitations  of  Seneca  and 

one  of  Buchanan's  Jephthes. 

2  See  Rigal  in  Petit  de  Julleville,  iv.  218—220. 

3  See  Silvanire,  ed.  R.  Otto,  pp.  liv,  lv. 


I  i  8  THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH. 

Jean  de  la  Taille,  Saul  le  furieux,  faicte  selon  Part. ..a  la  mode 
des  vieux  Autheurs  Tragiques  plus  une  Remonstrance  faicte  pour  le  Roy 
Charles  IX....avec...autres  Oeuvres,  1572.  La  Famine  ou  les  Gabeonites 
ensemble  plusieurs  autres  Oeuvres  poetiques,  1573  (contains  Le  Courtisan 
retiriy  Les  Corrivaux  and  Le  Negromanf).  CEuvres,  ed.  R.  de  Maulde, 
4  vols.  1879  (v°l-  IV-  contains  Les  Corrivaux). 

Jacques  de  la  Taille,  Daire,  1573;  Alexandre,  1573. 

Theodore  de  Beze,  Abraham  Sacrifiant,  [Geneva]  1550;  Geneva, 
1856;  ib.  1874. 

LOUIS  des  Masures,  Tragedies  Sainctes,  David  combattant,  David 
triumphant,  David fugitif,  1565;  Antwerp,  1582. 

Gabriel  Bounin,  La  Soltane,  1561  (Bib.  de  P  Arsenal);  reprinted  by 
J.  Venema  in  Ausg.  und  Abhandl.  no.  81,  1888. 

Claude  Rouillet,  Philanire  tragedie  francoise  du  latin  de  C.  R. 
(traduite  par  Vauteur  lui-meme),  1 563 ;  Tragedie  francoise  de  Philanire 
/em me  d'Hypolite,  1577  (Bib.  Nat). 

Robert  Garnier,  Les  Tragedies,  1585  (Picot,  II.  no.  1095);  ed. 
Wendelin  Foerster,  4  vols.  Heilbronn,  1883. 

Antoine  Montchrestien,  Les  Tragedies,  Rouen  [1601];  Rouen, 
1604  ;  ed.  L.  Petit  de  Julleville  (Bib.  Elzev.),  1891. 

[Louis  le  Jars],  Lucelle,  tragi-comedie  en  prose,  1 576 ;  Rouen, 
1600. 

R.  Belleau,  La  Reconnue,  1573  ;  Ancien  theatre  francais,  IV. 

PlERRE  de  Larivey,  Les  six  premieres  come'dies,  1579;  Ancien  theatre 
francais,  V-VTI. 

Odet  de  Turnebe,  Les  Contents,  1584;  Anc.  tltiatre  franc.  VII. 

Francois  d'Amboise,  Les  Neapolitaines,  1584  (Picot,  II.  no.  1099); 
Anc.  theatre  franc,  vil. 

Francois  Perrin,  Les  Escoliers,  1586  (the  only  known  copy  is  in  the 
Arsenal  library)  ;  reprinted,  Brussels,  1866,  with  a  notice  by  M.  P.  L.  ; 
also  in  E.  Fournier,  Le  theatre  francais  ait  xvie  el  au  xviie  siecle,  187 1 
(with  Eugene,  La  Reconnue,  Les  Esprits,  Les  Contents,  and  Les  Nea- 
politaines). 

Jean  Godard,  Les  Desguisez,  1594  ;  Anc.  theatre  franc.  VII. 

Pierre  le  Loyer,  Erotopegnie  ou passetemps  d' amour,  ensemble  une 
comedie  du  Muet  inseuse,  1576.  CEuvres,  1579.  La  Nphe'loeocugie,  in 
Raretes  bibliographiques  (with  a  notice  by  G.  Brunet),  Turin,  1869. 

Nicolas  Filleul,  Les  Theatres  de  Gaillon,  Rouen,  1566  (contains 
Les  Ombres). 

Nicolas  de  Montreux  (under  pseud,  of  Ollenix  du  Mont-sacre), 
Athlette,  1585  ;  La  Diane,  [Tours]  1592;  L'Arimene,  1597. 

[Roland  Brisset],  La  Dieromhie,  Tours,  1591. 

CLAUDE  de  BASSECOURT,  Trage-comedie  pastorale  et  autres  pieces 
Antwerp,  1594. 


XIX]  THE    RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  119 

Bibliographies  of  Plays. 

[P.  F.  Godard]  de  Beauchamps,  Recherches  sur  les  theatres  de  France, 
*735-  [F-  et  C.  Parfaict],  Histoire  du  theatre francois,  in.  1745  (dates  not 
to  be  relied  on).  [Due  de  la  Valliere],  Bibliotheque  du  theatre  francois,  I. 
23J— 332,  Dresden  [Paris],  1768.  Bibliotheque  dramatique  de  M.  de 
Soleinne,  Catalogue  redige  par  P.   L.   Jacob  (P.   Lacroix),   I.   1843. 

G.  Lanson,  Etudes  sur  les  origines  de  la  Tragedie  classique  en  France 
in  Rev.  d'hist.  litt.  X.    177  ff.,  413  ff.,   1903    important). 

Also  the  manuscript  catalogue  of  plays  in  the  Arsenal  library,  which 
comprises  the  library  of  the  Due  de  la  Valliere. 

The  MS.  Journal  du  theatre  francois  by  the  Chevalier  de  Mouhy  in 
the  Bid.  Nat.  is  quite  untrustworthy  (see  E.  Rigal,  Le  theatre  francais 
avant  la  periode  classique,  p.  yj). 


TO    BE   CONSULTED. 

The  best  and  most  complete  account  of  the  whole  Renaissance  drama 
is  that  by  E.  Rigal  in  Petit  de  Julleville,  III.  261  ff.,  1897.  See  also  the 
same  writer's  De  Vetablissement  de  la  tragedie  en  France  in  Rev.  dart 
dramatique,  XXV.  65  ff.,  1892,  and  Le  theatre  francais  avant  la  periode 
classique  (with  a  full  bibliography),  1901,  which  embodies  his  earlier 
Esquisse  cfune  histoire  des  theatres  de  Paris,  1887,  and  the  general  part 
of  his  Alexandre  Hardy,  1889.  H.  Tivier,  Histoire  de  la  littirature 
dramatique  en  France  depuis  scs  origines  jusqu'aic  Cid,  pp.  460 — 563,  1873. 
Darmesteter  and  Hatzfeld,  Le  seizieme  siecle  en  France  (a  good  sketch). 
W.  Creizenach,  Geschichte  des  7ieueren  Dramas,  II.  Halle,  1901-3. 

For  Tragedy — A.  Ebert,  Entwicklungsgeschichte  der  franzbsischen 
Tragbdie  vomehmlich  im  xvi  Jahrhundert,  Gotha,  1856,  is  excellent,  but 
has  some  omissions,  which  are  supplied  in  E.  Faguet,  La  tragidie  francaise 
au  xvie  siecle,  1883,  another  excellent  and  thorough  piece  of  work,  which 
however  by  its  reliance  on  Mouhy's  Journal  gives  a  false  impression  as  to 
the  general  character  of  Renaissance  tragedy. 

Edelstand  du  Meril,  Du  de'veloppemenl  de  la  tragedie  en  France  in 
Etudes  sur  quelques  points  d'archeologie  et  d  histoire  litter  aire,  pp.  144  ff-j 
1862. 

For  Comedy— E.  Chasles,  La  comedie  en  France  au  xvi1  siecle,  1862  ; 
Lenient,  La  satire  en  France  au  xvie  siecle,  II.  265  ff.,  2nd  ed.  1877  ;  and 
especially  P.  Toldo,  La  comedie  francaise  de  la  Renaissance  in  Rev.  d'hist. 
litt.  IV.  (1897),  366  ff. ;  v.  220  ff.  and  544  ff. 

The  following  works  deal  with  special  writers  or  with  special  points  : 
L.  Pinvert,  Jacques  Grevin,  1899;  E.  E.   Haag,  La  France  Protestante, 
for  Jean  and  Jacques  de  la  Taille,  and  (2nd  ed.)  Des  Masures;  ('..  I'. 
nault    de    Puchesse,    Jean    et  Jacques    de    la    Taille,    Orleans,     1 
M.  S.  Bernage,  Etude  sur  Robert  Gamier,  1880;  G.  Lanson,  Antoine  de 


120  THE   RENAISSANCE   DRAMA  [CH.  XIX 

Montchrestien  in  Hommes  et  livres,  1895  ;  J-  Macgillivray,  Life  and 
works  of  P.  Larivey,  Leipsic,  1889;  G.  Wenzel,  Pierre  de  Larivefs 
Komodien  und  ihr  Einfluss  auf  Moliere  in  Archiv  fiir  neueren  Spr. 
und  Litt.  LXXXII.  pp.  63  ff.,  1889;  J.  Lemaitre,  Les  Contents  in  Revue 
des  cours  et  conferences  for  May  20,  1893;  R.  Doumic,  Les  Esprits,  ib. 
May  27,  1893. 

E.  Lintilhac,  De  f.  C.  Scaligeri  poetice,  1887.  C.  Arnaud,  Les  theories 
dramatiques  an  xvii6  siecle,  pp.  115— 135,  1888.  R.  Otto,  introduction  to 
J.  de  Mairet's  Silvanire,  Bamberg,  1890.  H.  Breitinger,  Les  unites 
d'Aristote  avant  le  Cid  de  Corneille,  2nd  ed.  Geneva,  1895.  J-  Ebner, 
Beitrag  zu  einer  Geschichte  der  dramatischen  Einheiten  in  Italien 
{Munchener  Beitrdge,  xv.),  Erlangen  and  Leipsic,  1898.  J.  E.  Spingarn, 
A  history  of  literary  criticism  in  the  Renaissance,  New  York,  1899. 
P.  Kahnt,  Gedankenkreis  der  Senteuzen  in  fodelle  und  Carnier's 
Trag'odien  und  Seneca's  Eiufuss  auf  denselben,  Ausg.  und  Abhatid.  no.  66, 
1887.  F.  Klein,  Der  Chor  in  den  wichtigsten  Trag'odien  der  franzbsischen 
Renaissance  (Miinch.  Beitrdge,  XII.),  1897.  0.  Fest,  Der  miles  gloriosus 
in  der  franzbsischen  Kombdie  {Miinch.  Beitrdge,  xm.),  1897.  K.  Bohm, 
Beitrdge  zur  Kenntnis  des  Einflu sses  Seneca 's  auf  die  in  der  Zeit  von 
1552  bis  1562  erschienenen  franzbsischen  Trag'odien  {Miinch.  Beitrdge, 
xxv.),  1902.  For  other  German  dissertations  bearing  on  minor  points 
see  Morf,  pp.  243 — 5. 


PART    III 

i 5 So- i 605 
MONTAIGNE 


CHAPTER   XX 

THE   RETURN    TO    NATURE 

The  peace  of  Fleix,  which  was  ratified  at  the  close  of  the 
year  1580,  gave  France  rest  from  war,  except  for  a  few 
sporadic  disturbances,  for  more  than  four  years.  But  the 
manifesto  issued  by  the  recently  constituted  League  on  the 
last  day  of  March,  1585,  had  the  effect  of  plunging  the 
country  into  a  fresh  war,  which  lasted  for  more  than  thirteen 
years.  In  this  new  war  there  was  at  first  (until  the  death  of 
Henry  III)  an  additional  element  of  disorder  in  the  fact  that 
it  was  a  three-cornered  contest,  Leaguers,  Royalists,  and 
Huguenots  being  all  opposed  to  one  another.  Moreover  the 
extreme  weakness  of  the  Crown,  and  the  personal  unpopularity 
of  Henry  III,  arising  chiefly  from  the  power  which  he  ac- 
cumulated in  the  hands  of  his  favourites,  but  partly  also  from 
the  contempt  into  which  he  had  brought  the  royal  dignity  by 
his  mummings  and  masqueradings,  contributed  largely  to 
the  disorder.  Finally  the  fact  that  Paris  was  the  head- 
quarters of  the  League,  and  that  from  the  day  of  the  Barricades 
(May  12,  1588)  to  the  entry  of  Henry  IV  (March  22,  1594) 
the  capital  of  the  kingdom  was  subject  to  a  tyranny  as 
stringent,  though  not  as  bloody,  as  that  of  the  Reign  of  Terror, 
helped  to  paralyse  the  vital  powers  of  the  whole  kingdom. 

As  we  have  seen,  this  condition  of  things,  working  with 
other  more  natural  causes,  was  fatal  to  the  production  of 
poetry  and  drama,  of  which,  in  the  words  of  Dryden,  "the 
Muses  ever  follow  peace."  But  on  the  other  hand  it  was  not 
fatal  to  the  production  of  prose;  indeed  it  may  be  said  even 
to  have  stimulated  it.  For  men  weary  of  the  long  struggle 
turned  to  literature  not  as  a  source  of  livelihood,  but   as  an 


I24  THE   RETURN    TO   NATURE  [CH. 

anodyne  for  the  unhappy  condition  of  their  country,  or  as 
a  means  of  beguiling  long  hours  of  inactivity  to  which  they 
were  condemned  by  wounds  or  imprisonment.  So  it  came  to 
pass  that  French  prose,  which  during  the  first  period  of  our 
survey  had  to  fight  its  way  in  the  face  of  great  difficulties 
(partly  from  the  transitional  condition  of  the  language,  partly 
from  the  rivalry  of  Latin),  and  which  during  the  second  period 
(except  for  the  last  two  books  of  Pantagruel)  produced  only 
one  work  of  first-rate  importance,  namely,  Amyot's  Plutarch, 
now  in  this  period  of  general  unrest  and  disorder  put  forth 
vigorous  and  varied  blossoms.  Montaigne  in  his  solitary 
chateau,  La  Noue  in  his  prison  at  Limbourg,  Monluc  and 
Brantome  under  the  physical  inactivity  to  which  their  restless 
bodies  had  been  condemned,  Pasquier  upholding  the  royalist 
cause  at  Tours,  the  writers  of  the  Satire  Mcnippee  under 
the  gloomy  shadow  of  the  League  at  Paris,  all  these  men 
were  in  their  different  way  shaping  and  moulding  the  great 
French  language. 

It  is  to  be  noted  too  that,  unlike  the  majority  of  the  poets 
of  the  former  period,  all  these  prose  writers,  except  Brantome, 
shew  a  seriousness  of  purpose  and  a  sustained  sense  of 
the  grave  issues  of  life.  It  appears  alike  in  the  Catholic 
Monluc  and  the  Protestant  La  Noue,  beneath  the  mask  of 
Montaigne's  artistic  scepticism  and  behind  the  comedy  of 
the  Satire  Mcnippee.  It  was  indeed  a  time  which  called  for 
seriousness  if  France  was  to  be  saved  from  anarchy  or  subjec- 
tion to  a  foreign  power,  and  her  ultimate  salvation  was  in  fact 
in  no  little  measure  due,  as  DAubigne  says,  to  the  plumes 
bien  taillees  of  the  patriotic  party,  to  the  manly,  sensible,  and 
hopeful  tone  of  their  writings. 

Moreover  this  literature  was  not  only  patriotic  in  feeling, 
but  it  was  far  more  national  in  character  and  style  than  the 
poetry  of  the  Pleiad.  The  reaction  against  Italian  influence 
which  had  begun  in  politics  now  extended  to  literature.  The 
mere  fact  that  poetry  was  overshadowed  by  prose  accorded  no 
less  with  the  genius  of  the  nation  than  the  return  that  was 
made  in  poetry  itself  to  the  lighter  and  more  familiar  style  of 
the   Marotic  Muse.     The  increased  interest   in  the  study  of 


XX]  THE  RETURN  TO  NATURE 


125 


human  nature,  awakened  by  Amyot's  translation  of  Plutarch, 
and  stimulated  by  Montaigne's  Essays,  turned  literature  into 
a  channel  peculiarly  suited  to  the  French  spirit  of  delicate 
analysis.  Though  the  form  of  the  literature  was  still  that  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  in  substance  it  was  already  beginning 
to  foreshadow  the  great  masterpieces  of  the  age  of  Louis  XIV. 

Before  dealing  with  the  more  important  and  more  typical 
prose  writers  of  this  period,  there  are  two  writers  who  demand 
our  attention,  Ambroise  Pare,  the  surgeon,  and  Bernard 
Palissy,  the  potter.  They  are  generally  classed  together  in 
histories  of  literature  as  scientific  writers,  but  it  will  emphasize 
better  their  special  position  in  the  literature  of  the  French 
Renaissance,  if  they  are  described  negatively  as  not  being 
humanists. 

During  the  whole  of  our  preceding  survey  we  have  been 
concerned  almost  exclusively  with  men  who  were  either 
classical  scholars  of  some  distinction,  or  at  any  rate  had 
been  nurtured  on  classical  literature.  Even  if,  as  in  Marot's 
case,  their  classical  learning  was  slender,  they  had  at  least 
some  familiarity  with  the  best  available  substitute,  the 
literature  of  Italy.  On  the  other  hand  the  study  of  nature 
at  first  hand,  the  appeal  from  tradition  to  experience,  had 
begun  to  manifest  itself  only  in  a  few  isolated  cases.  It  is  as 
the  embodiment  of  the  scientific  spirit  even  more  than  by  his 
multifarious  learning  and  attainments  that  Leonardo  da  Vinci 
stands  forth  as,  on  the  whole,  the  most  remarkable,  though 
not  the  most  typical,  figure  of  the  Renaissance.  Some  measure 
of  this  spirit  had  descended  too  upon  Rabelais,  but  it  was 
mingled  in  his  case  with  a  veneration  for  antiquity  which  was 
hardly  less  superstitious  than  that  of  his  contemporaries. 
But  as  a  rule  the  adherence  to  classical  authority  was  un- 
qualified and  unquestioned,  and  it  was  hardly  less  so  in 
science  than  in  literature.  The  Renaissance  pioneers  in 
science  contented  themselves  with  translating  Greek  writers, 
and  made  the  interpretation  of  Greek  texts  the  groundwork 
of  their  teaching. 

The  importance  therefore  of  Pare  and  Palissy  lies  in  the 
fact  that  here  at  last  we  have  two  men  who  were  ignorant 


I26  THE  RETURN  TO  NATURE  [CH. 

alike  of  Greek  and  Latin  and  Italian,  two  men  who  made 
experience  and  not  tradition  the  starting-point  of  their  know- 
ledge. "  Test  it  by  experiment  "  was  Pare's  method  of  solving 
every  controversial  point  in  practice.  It  is  Theory  who  is 
invariably  worsted  in  the  argument  with  Practice  in  Palissy's 
Discours  admirable*.  Thus  a  chapter  dealing  with  these  men, 
who  made  common-sense  and  experience  the  basis  of  their 
respective  studies  in  surgery  and  natural  philosophy,  is  a 
fitting  ante-chamber  to  one  on  the  great  writer  who  applied 
the  same  tests  to  the  study  of  man  in  general. 

In  fact  Ambroise  Pare1,  with  his  shrewd  common-sense 
and  eager  curiosity,  reminds  one  of  Montaigne,  though  he 
directed  experiment  and  experience  to  a  different  end,  the 
practice  of  his  profession.  Born,  probably  in  1 5 16,  in  a  village 
which  now  forms  part  of  the  episcopal  town  of  Laval  in 
Maine,  he  came  to  Paris  in  1532  or  1533,  to  serve  his 
apprenticeship  to  a  barber-surgeon2.  In  1534  he  obtained  an 
appointment  as  a  sort  of  house-surgeon  in  the  Hotel-Dieu, 
and  in  1537  he  accompanied  the  French  army  to  Turin  as 
surgeon  to  M.  de  Montejan,  who  was  in  command  of  the 
infantry.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  he  made  his  first 
important  discovery.  Through  the  accident  of  his  supply  of 
boiling  oil  running  short  he  learnt  that  the  cauterisation  of 
gunshot  wounds,  universally  practised  at  this  time,  was  a 
mistake.  Voila  comme  fappris  a  traiter  les  playes  faites  par 
harquebuses,  11011  par  les  livres. 

For  the  next  thirty  years  there  was  hardly  an  important 
French  war  in  which  he  did  not  take  part.  He  was  at 
Boulogne  when  Francois  de  Guise  received  his  terrible  wound 

1  b.  1516  (?)— d.  1590. 

-  The  best  available  evidence  for  the  date  of  his  birth,  namely  the  statement  of 
his  age  beneath  the  portraits  prefixed  to  his  various  works,  varies  considerably. 
Up  till  1564  he  adhered  to  the  date  of  1516,  but  from  1573  he  began  to  be 
uncertain,  and  under  his  portrait  by  Delanne,  engraved  in  1582,  he  is  described 
as  72.  (See  Le  Paulmier,  pp.  135  f.)  The  statement  of  Pierre  de  1'Estoile  that  he 
was  80  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  Dec.  1590  is  not  likely  to  have  come  from  any 
better  authority  than  Pare  himself.  In  favour  of  the  later  date  are  (1)  his  arrival 
at  Paris  in  1532  or  1533,  and  the  special  emphasis  laid  on  his  youth  when  he  was 
at  Turin  in  1538;  (2)  the  known  fact  that  old  men  are  apt  to  overstate  their  age. 


XX]  THE  RETURN  TO  NATURE 


127 


in  the  face  from  a  lance1;  he  attended  the  King  of  Navarre 
after  his  mortal  wound  before  Rouen,  and  the  Constable  de 
Montmorency  after  the  battle  of  Saint-Denis  ;  he  was  in  Metz 
during  its  famous  siege  by  Charles  V,  having  been  smuggled 
into  the  town  by  order  of  Henry  II  ;  and  in  the  following 
year  (1553)  he  became  a  prisoner  by  the  surrender  of  Hesdin, 
but  before  long  was  released  without  ransom  by  a  grateful 
patient.  Meanwhile  his  fame  had  been  steadily  increasing. 
In  1552  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  king's  surgeons  in 
ordinary,  and  in  that  capacity  stood  in  consultation  round 
the  death-bed  of  Henry  II  after  his  fatal  wound2.  Seventeen 
months  later  he  was  summoned  to  attend  his  successor 
Francis  II,  who  died  on  Dec.  5,  1560.  On  the  first  day  of 
the  year  1562  he  was  appointed  chief  surgeon  to  Charles  IX, 
a  post  which  he  retained  under  his  successor.  It  was  he  who 
amputated  Coligny's  two  fingers  after  he  had  been  wounded 
by  Maurevel,  and  he  was  watching  by  his  bed  on  the  fatal 
morning  of  St  Bartholomew. 

In  1575  he  published  the  first  collected  edition  of  his 
works,  which  included,  besides  a  general  account  of  anatomy 
and  surgery,  the  famous  Methode  de  traicter  les playes f aides 
par  hacquebutes  et  aultres  bastons  a  feuz,  a  little  treatise  of 
68  leaves  first  published  in  1545  and  notable  as  the  first 
scientific  work  ever  written  in  French,  another  on  wounds  in 
the  head  (1561),  and  a  third  on  the  plague  (1568).  The 
publication  of  this  edition  involved  him  in  a  long  warfare 
with  the  faculty  of  Physicians.  The  last  edition  of  his  works 
that  was  published  in  his  lifetime  (1585)  concluded  with  the 
Apologie  et  traite  con  tenant  les  voyages  faits  en  divers  licux, 
written  in  1584.  This  treatise,  which  is  Pare's  chief  claim  to 
recognition  as  a  man  of  letters,  is  an  account  of  his  experiences 

1  Qluvres,  II.  25.  Malgaigne  points  out  that  Pare  nowhere  tells  us  who  the 
surgeon  was  who  extracted  the  broken  lance,  and  that  the  well-known  story  ol  his 
doing  it  himself  first  appears  in  the  untrustworthy  Vie  de  Coligny  by  Sandras  de 
Courtils,  1686. 

2  CEuvres,  11.  25. 

3  Pare  afterwards  adopted  the  spelling  harquebuse,  which  should  really  be 
arquebuse  from  the  Italian  archibuso.  Hacquebute  is  from  the  German  haken- 
biichse. 


I28  THE  RETURN  TO  NATURE  [CH. 

as  an  army-surgeon,  and  thus  introduces  the  personal  element, 
necessarily  absent  from  his  purely  scientific  writings,  which 
wins  the  interest  of  the  reader  and  makes  for  literature.  We 
learn  from  it  that  he  possessed  all  the  qualities  which  go  to 
make  a  great  surgeon  in  all  ages,  common-sense,  deftness  of 
hand,  care  for  small  details,  tenderness,  and  sympathy.  The 
literary  merit  of  his  writing  is  chiefly  owing  to  two  qualities, 
clearness  of  thought  which  is  reflected  in  clearness  of  ex- 
pression, and  a  strong  visualising  faculty  which  enables  him 
to  give  life  and  picturesqueness  to  his  narrative.  Occasionally 
he  indulges  in  a  vein  of  rather  grim  irony  as  in  the  close  of 
his  account  of  the  siege  of  Metz  : 

Ie  veux  encore  retourner  a  la  cause  de  leur  mortalite,  qui  estoit 
principalement  de  la  faim,  peste,  et  du  froid :  car  la  neige  estoit  sur  la 
terre  plus  de  hauteur  de  deux  pieds,  et  estoient  loges  en  des  cauernes 
sous  terre,  couuertes  d'vn  peu  de  chaume  seulement.  Neantmoins  que 
chacun  soldat  auoit  son  lit  de  camp  et  une  couuerture  toute  semee 
d'estoiles  luisantes  et  brillantes,  plus  claires  que  fin  or  :  et  tous  les  iours 
auoient  draps  blancs,  et  loges  a  l'enseigne  de  la  Lune,  et  faisoient  bonne 
chere,  quand  ils  auoient  de  quoy :  et  payoient  si  bien  leur  hoste  des  le 
soir,  que  le  matin  s'en  alloient  quittes,  secoiiant  les  oreilles.  Et  ne  leur 
falloit  nul  peigne  pour  destacher  le  duuet  et  la  plume  de  contre  leurs 
barbes  et  cheueux  :  et  trouuoient  tousiours  happe  blanche,  perdans  de 
bons  repas  par  faute  de  viandes.  Aussi  la  plus  grande  part  n'auoit 
bottes,  ny  bottines,  pantoufles,  chausses,  ny  souliers  :  et  plusieurs  aimoient 
mieux  n'en  avoir  point  que  d'en  auoir,  pource  qu'ils  estoient  tousiours  en 
la  fange  iusques  a  my-iambes  :  et  a  cause  qu'ils  alloient  nuds  pieds, 
nous  les  appellions  les  Apostres  de  VEmpereur\ 

This  story  of  Metz  is  the  best-known  of  his  Voyages,  but 
the  account  of  the  siege  of  Hesdin  is  of  equal  interest,  while 
there  is  a  special  charm  in  the  Voyage  de  Flandres,  in  which 
he  tells  us  how  he  cured  the  young  Marquis  d'Auret,  a  brother 
of  the  Due  d'Arschot,  of  a  wound  in  his  leg  from  which  he 
had  been  suffering  for  seven  months. 

Je  le  pansais,  Dieu  le  guerit.  That  is  the  usual  phrase  in 
which  he  speaks  of  his  cures.  For  nothing  is  more  character- 
istic of  the  man  than  his  deep  piety.  It  appears  strongly  in 
the  chapter  of  his  work  entitled  Des  causes  divines  de  la  peste 

1    CEuvres,  in.  joS. 


XX]  THE   RETURN    TO    NATURE  129 

(book  XXIV.  c.  ii)  and  in  the  concluding  chapter  of  the  same 
book.  These  together  with  the  penultimate  chapter,  which 
draws  a  moving  picture  of  the  misery  caused  by  the  plague, 
and  with  the  curious  account  of  the  tricks  of  beggars1  in  the 
book  on  monsters,  may  be  added  to  the  Apologie  et  voyages  as 
being  of  interest  to  the  general  reader.  Pare  ended  his  long 
and  active  life  on  December  20,  1590,  when  Paris  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  League,  hated  by  the  Leaguers,  but  beloved  by  all 
good  citizens  as  a  fearless  advocate  of  peace  and  toleration-'. 

In  the  same  year  as  Pare  there  died  also  at  Paris,  but  in 
the  prison  of  the  Bastille,  Bernard  Palissy,  the  potter3.  The 
services  of  this  great  man  to  art  and  science  are  so  remark- 
able, his  personal  character  stands  so  high,  that  in  a  country 
like  France,  which  knows  how  to  honour  art  and  science,  it  is 
no  wonder  that  his  name  should  be  honoured  almost  beyond 
that  of  any    other    writer    of   the    sixteenth    century.      This 

1  Book  XIX.  cc.  xxi-xxiv;  part  of  this  is  evidently  taken  from  Noel  du  Fail's 
Propos  rustiques  c.  vii. 

2  P.  de  l'Estoile,  Journal,  v.  65.  It  is  by  no  means  certain  whether  he  was  a 
Huguenot  or  a  Catholic.  The  common  tradition  that  he  was  a  Huguenot  and 
that  he  was  saved  from  the  massacre  of  St  Bartholomew  by  the  special  inter- 
vention of  Charles  IX,  rests  on  somewhat  slender  evidence,  the  untrustworthy 
Vie  de  Coligny,  an  unlikely  story  told  by  Sully  who  was  only  a  boy  at  the 
time  of  the  massacre,  and  two  passages  of  Brantome.  Against  Brantome's  testi- 
mony, which  alone  counts,  has  been  set  the  fact  that  Pare  was  married,  his 
children  baptized,  and  he  and  his  wife  buried  in  a  Catholic  Church.  But  Henri 
Bordier,  whose  opinion  is  of  great  weight,  says  that  this  proves  nothing,  for  the 
Protestants  at  this  time  had  no  official  places  of  their  own  where  such  ceremonie 
could  be  celebrated.  Further  Pare  in  a  passage  which  appears  in  the  157  s 
edition  of  his  works,  but  which  was  subsequently  omitted,  speaks  of  Quelques 
tins  qui  me  hayoyent  a  mort  pour  la  Religion  (CEuvres,  in.  662),  a  remark  which 
certainly  implies  that  he  had,  at  any  rate,  once  been  a  Protestant.  Malgaigne 
(CEuvres,  I.  cclxxvii  ff.  and  v.  xiv)  believes  that  at  least  after  St  Bartholomew 
he  was  a  professed  Catholic.  S.  Paget,  Pare  and  his  limes,  A.  Jal,  Diet,  critique, 
and  J.  Trevedy,  A.  Pare,  Est-il  mort  Catholiquc ?  (Laval  and  Rennes,  1890),  all 
take  a  similar  view.  The  view  that  he  was  a  Protestant  is  upheld  by  II.  Bordier 
in  Bull.  prot.  franc,  for  1868,  pp.  173  ff.  and  Dr  Le  Panlmier,  A.  I'm;',  p.  70.  Ii 
requires  more  knowledge  than  I  possess  of  the  social  conditions  of  Parens  timi 
come  to  any  positive  conclusion,  but  the  evidence  on  the  whole  seems  to  b 
favour  of  the  view  that  he  was  a  Protestant. 

3  b.  1515  to  1520— d.  1500.  I  see  no  reason  to  doubt  tin-  po  temenl 
of  P.  de  l'Estoile  (Journal,  v.  67)  who  knew  Palissy  and  was  in  Paris  in  1590. 
D'Aubigne  puts  his  death  a  year  earlier. 

T.  II.  9 


!30  THE   RETURN    TO   NATURE  [CH. 

admiration   for  the   man   has,  however,  led    to    a   somewhat 
exaggerated  estimate  of  his  literary  merits. 

We  have  little  positive  information  about  his  early  life, 
but  such  evidence  as  is  forthcoming  seems  to  shew  that  he 
was  born  in  the  Agenais  between  15 15  and  15201;  and  that 
before  the  year  1540  he  went  to  live  at  Saintes'2  and  there 
carried  on  his  two  professions  of  land-surveyor  and  painter 
on  glass*.  It  is  with  Saintes  that  Palissy's  name  is  most 
intimately  connected,  so  that  Olivier  de  Serres  not  unnaturally 
speaks  of  him  as  le paysan  de  Xaintonge;  it  was  at  Saintes  that 
his  heroic  struggles  in  the  endeavour  to  make  white  enamel 
took  place  ;  and  it  was  at  Saintes  that  he  became  a  Protestant 
and  bore  his  part  in  the  tribulations  of  the  infant  church.  But 
he  did  not  live  there  continuously.  Not  to  speak  of  shorter 
absences,  for  the  most  part  connected  with  his  business  of 
land-surveying,  he  spent,  he  tells  us,  some  years  at  Tarbes  in 
the  kingdom  of  Navarre,  and  in  1563  we  find  him  at  La 
Rochelle,  where  his  first  work  was  printed.  Its  title  is  worth 
giving  in  full.  Recepte  veritable,  par  laqnelle  tons  les  homines  de 
la  France  pourront  apprendre  a  multiplier  et  angmenter  leurs 
thresors.  Item,  cenx  qui  n  out  jamais  en  cognoissance  des  lettres 
pourront  apprendre  tine  pJiilosophie  necessaire  a  tons  les  habit  an  s 
de  la  terre.  Item  en  ce  livre  est  contenu  le  dessein  d'unjardin, 
■an taut  delectable  et  d' utile  invention  qu'il  en  fut  oncqucs   veu. 

1  P.  de  l'Estoile  says  he  was  80  at  the  time  of  his  death,  D'Aubigne  who  puts 
his  death  in  1589  that  he  was  90.  On  the  other  hand  Lacroix  du  Maine,  writing 
in  1584,  says  that  he  was  at  that  time  'sixty  and  more.'  L'Estoile's  date  has  been 
generally  adopted  on  the  ground  that  it  is  an  intermediate  one.  But  surely  on  the 
point  of  age  L'Estoile  is  not  so  good  an  authority  as  a  professed  biographer  and 
bibliographer  like  Lacroix  du  Maine.  The  latter  writer  also  says  that  Palissy 
was  a  native  of  the  diocese  of  Agen,  and  Palissy  himself  speaks  of  Saintonge,  which 
some  writers  regard  as  his  native  province,  merely  as  pays  de  son  habitation. 

-  In  the  dedication  of  the  Discours  admirables  to  Antoine  de  Pons,  Palissy 
■says,  Combien  quefeusse  bon  tesmoignage  de  V excellence  de  votre  esprit,  des  le  temps 
■que  retournastes  de  Ferrare,  en  vostre  chateau  de  Fonts.  The  ch&teau  was  close  to 
Saintes  and  its  lord  returned  from  Ferrara  in  1539.  Palissy's  language,  says 
Audiat  (p.  10),  shews  that  he  must  have  migrated  to  Saintonge  in  early  youth, 
but  see  Dupuy,  p.  234. 

3  M.  Dupuy  thinks  that  his  work  as  a  peintre-vei-rier  or  vitrier  was  confined  to 
the  sale  and  repair  of  stained  glass  (pp.  65-71).  It  is  evident  that  he  was  occupied 
in  some  rather  humble  branch  of  the  art. 


XX]  THE  RETURN  TO  NATURE  131 

Item,  le  dessein  et  ordonnance  d'une  Ville  de  forteresse,  la  plus 
imprenable  qrihomme  ouyt  jamais  parley,  Compose  par  Maistre 
Bernard  Palissy,  onvrier  de  tcrre,  et  inventeur  des  rustiques 
figulines  du  Roy  et  de  Monseigneur  le  due  de  Montmorency,  pair 
et  connestable  de  France,  demeurant  en  la  ville  de  Xaintes. 

Even  this  comprehensive  title  by  no  means  fully  indicates 
the  various  entertainment  that  awaits  us.  As  M.  Dupuy  says, 
the  book  "  contains  at  once  a  fragment  of  agricultural  chem- 
istry, a  dissertation  on  stones  and  their  formation,  a  theory  of 
the  origin  of  metals,  the  description  of  a  delightful  garden,  a 
moral  satire  on  the  follies  of  mankind,  a  history  of  the  Refor- 
mation in  Saintonge,  and  an  account  of  the  persecution  of  the 
Reformers."  But  from  the  literary  point  of  view  perhaps  the 
main  interest  lies  in  the  fact  that  here  we  have  in  the  full 
flood-time  of  the  Renaissance  a  work  by  a  man  who  not  only, 
like  Pare,  knew  no  Greek  or  Latin,  but  who  had  little  book- 
learning  of  any  kind.  In  the  first  place  it  should  be  noticed 
that  the  treatise  is  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue,  a  form  which 
the  writings  of  Viret  had  made  familiar  to  Protestants.  In- 
sipid as  it  generally  is,  especially  when  no  attempt  is  made  to 
give  dramatic  life  to  the  speakers,  it  is  not  ill-suited  to  the 
work  of  popular  exposition.  Palissy  at  any  rate  did  well  to 
adopt  it,  because  conversation  was  more  familiar  to  him  than 
books.  Here,  as  in  other  treatises  written  in  this  form  during 
this  period,  the  parts  are  most  unequally  distributed ;  one 
speaker  expounds  while  the  other  merely  asks  questions. 
Palissy's  questioner  is  represented  as  singularly  dull  of  under- 
standing. "  I  never  saw  a  man  so  dense  {de  si  dure  cervelle)  as 
you,"  says  his  opponent ;  and  "  I  never  met  anybody  so  stupid  "; 
and,  "  If  you  don't  believe  this,  you  must  have  an  ass's  head  on 
your  shoulders." 

The  style  of  the  writing  is  singularly  straightforward  and 
clear,  without  any  attempt  at  literary  ornament.  It  is  the 
natural  expression  of  a  logical  mind.  For  all  his  want  ol 
education  Palissy  has  the  root  of  good  writing  in  him  ;  he 
reminds  one  of  Renan's  remark  suggested  by  the  style  oi  a 
modern  hero  of  science,  Claude  Bernard,  Elk  repose  sitr  la 
logique,  base  unique,  base  etemelle  du  bou  style.     A  ivmark- 

9-2 


3' 


THE   RETURN    TO   NATURE  [CH. 


able  feature  is  the  absence  of  those  long  sentences  which  we 
find  in  nearly  all  sixteenth-century  prose,  influenced  as  it  was 
by  the  stud)-  of  Latin  models. 

The  best- known  portion  of  the  treatise  is  the  account  of 
the  beginnings  of  the  Reformed  Church  at  Saintes,  but  it  is 
less  striking  than  the  part  which  almost  immediately  precedes 
it,  where  Palissy,  under  the  weird  allegory  of  an  examination 
of  various  skulls,  satirises  the  vices  of  the  day,  as  exhibited  in 
certain  professions.  For  instance  he  represents  himself  as 
thus  addressing  the  skull  of  a  Canon  : 

Pourquoi  est-ce  que  tu  es  si  grand  ennemi  de  ceux  qui  parlent  des 
authoritez  de  l'Escriture  saincte?  Mais  iceluy  respondant,  dist  que,  ne 
seroit  qu'on  le  vouloit  contraindre  d'aller  prescher  en  ses  benefices,  qui! 
tiendroit  la  partie  des  protestants  :  mais  a  cause  qu'il  n'avoit  aprins  a 
prescher,  et  qu'il  avoit  accoustume  avoir  ses  aises  des  sa  jeunesse,  cela  lui 
coustoit  de  soustenir  l'Eglise  Romaine.  Et  je  dis  lors  :  "Tu  es  bien 
meschant  et  tu  fais  de  l'hypocrite  devant  tes  freres  les  autres  Chanoines, 
qui  pensent  que  tu  soustiennes  et  que  tu  croyes  directement  les  statuts  de 
l'Eglise  Romaine.  Non,  non,  dit-il,  il  n'y  en  a  pas  un  de  mes  compagnons 
qui  ne  confesse  la  verite,  ne  seroit  la  crainte  de  perdre  leur  revenu.  Et. 
qu'ainsi  ne  soit,  il  n'y  a  celui  qui  ne  mange  de  la  chair  en  caresme  aussi 
bien  comme  moy,  et,  quelque  mine  qu'ils  facent,  iis  ne  vont  a  la  niesse 
sinon  pour  conserver  la  cuisine,  et  de  ce  n'en  faut  douter.  Et  quand  n"eut 
este  que  les  bonnes  gens  nous  vouloient  contraindre  d'aller  prescher,  nous 
cussions  aisement  souffert  les  ministres ;  mais  nostre  revenu  est  cause 
que  nous  faisons  nos  esforts  pour  les  banir1." 

The  following  will  give  an  idea  of  Palissy's  ordinary  style 
when  he  is  explaining  some  natural  phenomenon.  Nothing 
can  be  simpler  or  clearer. 

Quand  tu  iras  par  les  villages,  considere  un  peu  les  fumiers  des 
laboureurs,  et  tu  verras  qu'ils  les  mettent  hors  de  leurs  estables,  tantost 
en  lieu  haut,  et  tantost  en  lieu  bas,  sans  aucune  consideration ;  mais  qu'il 
soit  appile,  il  leur  suffit.  Et  puis,  pren  garde  au  temps  des  pluyes,  et  tu 
verras  que  les  eaux  qui  tombent  sur  lesdits  fumiers,  emportent  une 
teinture  noire,  en  passant  par  ledit  fumier,  et,  trouvant  le  bas,  pente,  ou 
inclinaison  du  lieu  ou  les  fumiers  seront  mis,  les  eaux  qui  passeront  par 
lesdits  fumiers,  emporteront  ladite  teinture,  qui  est  la  principale  et  le  total 
de  la  substance  du  fumier.  Parquoy,  le  fumier,  ainsi  lave,  ne  peut  servir, 
sinon  de  parade,  mais  estant  porte"  au  champ,  il  n'y  fait  aucun  profit. 
Voila  pas  donques  une  ignorance  manifeste,  qui  est  grandement  a 
regretter2? 

1  Ed.  Fillon,  I.  in.  -  Ed.  Fillon,  I.  27. 


XX]  THE  RETURN  TO  NATURE 


133 


The  title  of  inventeur  des  rustiques  figulines  to  the  King 
and  the  Constable  de  Montmorency  by  which  Palissy  de- 
scribes himself  on  the  title-page  of  the  Recepte  veritable  shews 
that  when  the  book  was  published  he  had  already  begun  the 
production  of  his  famous  rustic  ware.  In  fact  Montmorency 
was  now  employing  him  on  the  work  of  making  grottoes  for 
his  chateau  at  Ecouen,  and  he  had  probably  hit  upon  the 
device  of  attaching  him  also  to  the  King's  service  in  order  to 
rescue  him  from  prison  at  Bordeaux,  where  he  had  been  sent 
as  a  heretic  after  the  troubles  of  15621.  Some  time  between 
1564  and  1567  he  took  up  his  abode  at  Paris2,  and  Catharine 
de'  Medici,  who  probably  made  his  acquaintance  at  Saintes 
in  1 565  ::,  succeeded  the  Constable  as  his  patron,  and  before 
long  employed  him  on  her  new  palace  of  the  Tuileries4. 
In  1575  he  gave  a  course  of  three  lectures  at  Paris  which 
were  continued  at  least  in  the  following  year  and  possibly 
for  some  years  afterwards.  He  has  preserved  the  names,  so 
far  as  he  knew  them,  thirty-three  in  number,  of  those  who 
attended  the  lectures.  The  list  includes  thirteen  physicians, 
the  sculptor  Berthelemy  Prieur,  and  most  interesting  of  all, 
Ambroise  Pare.  In  1580  the  lectures  were  published  under 
the  title  of  Discours  admiralties. 

According  to  Lacroix  du  Maine,  Palissy  was  still  lecturing 
at  Paris  in  15 84,  but  except  for  this  statement  we  hear 
nothing  more  of  him  till  his  imprisonment  in  the  Bastille  in 
the  spring  of  15S83,  where  he  remained  till  his  death  in  1590. 

1  Audiat  in  Fillon's  ed.  i.  xlvii;  Dupuy,  p.  41. 

2  B.  de  Fillon,  Leltres  ecrites  de  la  Vendee  a  M.  Anatole  de  Montaiglon,  t86r, 
p.  54;   Dupuy,  p.  43.  3  B.  Fillon,  op.  cit.  p.  55  ;  Audiat,  p.  24:. 

i  The  foundation-stone  was  laid  on  Jan.  ir,  1566;  Palissy's  name  fust  appears 
in  the  accounts  in  a  document  of  Jan.  1570  (Dupuy,  p.  44).  Dupuy  conjectures 
that  he  was  in  the  Ardennes,  in  the  territories  of  the  Due  de  Bouillon,  where  hi 
evidently  spent  some  time,  on  the  fatal  day  of  St  Bartholomew  (p.  58),  A.udial 
that  he  took  refuge  with  the  Duke,  who  was  a  Protestant,  after  the  massacre. 

5  This  appears  from  a  new  passage  in  the  Journal  of  I',  de  L'Estoile  pub. 
by  H.  Omont  in  1900.  If  D'Aubigne's  story  of  his  conversation  in  prison  with 
Henry  III  is  true,  he  must  have  been  imprisoned  before  May  13,  [588,  when 
Henry  III  left  Paris  never  to  return  (Hist.  Univ.  ed.  A.  de  Ruble,  VIII.  151; 
Les  Trcigiques,  (Eitvres,  IV.  187;  Confession  de  Saucy,  ib.  II.  .551)-  Audial 
(pp.  445—461)  doubts  the  truth  of  the  story  on  the  ground  of  the  dale,  but  it 
agrees  with  that  given  by  L'Estoile. 


!  }4  THE   RETURN   TO   NATURE  [CH. 

Though  the  Discours  are  of  more  importance  than  the 
Recepte  rentable  for  determining  the  extent  of  Palissy's 
scientific  knowledge,  they  are,  with  one  exception,  of  less 
interest  to  the  general  reader.  That  exception  is  the  famous 
De  Fart  de  tern;  in  which  Palissy  relates  the  story  of  his 
heroic,  but  unsuccessful,  efforts  to  penetrate  the  secrets  of 
white  enamel1.  It  is  especially  this  narrative  which  has 
earned  for  Palissy  his  high  reputation  as  a  writer.  Here  is 
the  concluding  passage,  the  most  often  quoted,  and  on  the 
whole  the  best : 

|  ay  este  plusieurs  annees  que  n'ayant  rien  dequoy  faire  couvrir  mes 
fourneaux,  j'estois  toutes  les  nuits  a  la  mercy  des  pluyes  et  vents,  sans 
avoir  aucun  secours  aide  ny  consolation,  sinon  des  chatshuants  qui 
chantoyent  d'un  coste"  et  les  chiens  qui  hurloyent  de  l'autre ;  parfois  il  se 
levoit  des  vents  et  tempestes  qui  souffloyent  de  telle  sorte  le  dessus  et  le 
dessouz  de  mes  fourneaux,  que  j'estois  contraint  quitter  la  tout,  avec  perte 
de  mon  labeur;  et  me  suis  trouve  plusieurs  fois  qu'ayant  tout  quitte, 
n'ayant  rien  de  sec  sur  moy,  a  cause  des  pluyes  qui  estoyent  tombees,  je 
m'en  allois  coucher  a  la  minuit  ou  au  point  du  jour,  accoustre  de  telle 
sorte  comme  un  homme  que  l'on  auroit  traine  par  tous  les  bourbiers  de 
la  ville;  et  en  m'en  allant  ainsi  retirer,  j'allois  bricollant  sans  chandelle, 
et  tombant  d'un  coste  et  d'autre,  comme  un  homme  qui  seroit  yvre  de 
vin,  rempli  de  grandes  tristesses:  d'autant  qu'apres  avoir  longuement 
travaille"  je  voyois  mon  labeur  perdu.  Or  en  me  retirant  ainsi  souille  et 
trempe,  je  trouvois  en  ma  chambre  une  seconde  persecution  pire  que  la 
premiere,  qui  me  fait  a  present  esmerveiller  que  je  ne  suis  consume  de 
tristesse. 

It  would  be  idle  to  deny  the  force  and  pathos  of  this  ; 
and  yet  the  touch  of  exaggeration,  even  of  rhetoric,  makes  it, 
as  it  makes  the  whole  narrative,  ring  less  agreeably  to  the  ear 
than  the  clear  and  simple  language  in  which  Palissy  relates 

1  Ed.  Fillon,  II.  201 — 220.  Palissy  begins  his  account  by  saying  that  lie  was 
shewn  twenty-five  years  ago  a  beautiful  enamelled  cup.  It  has  been  conjectured 
that  this  was  shewn  him  by  Antoine  de  Pons  on  his  return  from  Ferrara  in  1539; 
but  in  any  case  Palissy  began  his  experiments  some  years  before  1543,  that  is 
thirty-five  years  at  least  before  the  delivery  of  his  lectures.  Either  twenty  is  a 
mistake  for  thirty,  or  the  De  Part  de  terre  may  have  been  written  long  before  the 
lectures  were  delivered  and  have  been  added  to  them  on  publication.  M.  L. 
Solon,  Old  French  Faience  [1903],  pp.  30,  31,  points  out  that  Palissy  never 
discovered  the  secret  of  white  enamel,  and  he  conjectures  that  the  cup  was  not 
really  enamelled  but  was  made  of  very  white  china. 


XX]  THE  RETURN  TO  NATURE 


135 


his  experiments  and  explains  his  scientific  theories.  Pourquoi 
me  cJierches  tit  nne  si  longue  chanson  ?  That  is  Theoriqucs 
criticism.  Does  it  imply  that  we  are  to  regard  this  moving 
narrative  as  Dichtung  und  Wahrheit  rather  than  as  the  naked 
truth,  as  in  part  a  parable  set  forth  to  illustrate  his  text  that 
on  ne  pent  poitrsnyvre  ny  mettre  en  execution  aucune  chose,  pour 
la  rendre  en  beaute  et  perfection,  que  ce  ne  soit  avec  grand  et 
extreme  labeurl 

In  the  purely  expository  part  of  this  volume,  Palissy's 
style  shews  on  the  whole  an  improvement.  It  is  as  clear  and 
logical  as  ever,  but  it  is  marked  by  greater  care  and  greater 
correctness.  But  neither  here  nor  elsewhere  do  we  find, 
except  on  rare  occasions,  the  picturesqueness  and  the  imagi- 
native power  which  Palissy's  admirers  ascribe  to  him.  He  is 
of  the  school  of  Calvin,  not  of  the  school  of  Rabelais. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Editions. 

Ambroise  Pare,  La  Methode  de  traicter  les  play esf aides  par  hacque- 
butes  et  aultres  bastons  a  feu,  1545.  Les  CEuvres,  quatricme  edition,  1585. 
CEuvres  completes,  ed.  J.  F.  Malgaigne,  3  vols.  1840. 

Bernard  Palissv,  Recepte  veritable,  La  Rochelle,  1563  (there  are 
only  three  known  copies,  one  in  the  Bib.  Nat.,  one  in  the  Arsenal  library, 
and  the  third  in  the  Brit.  Mus. ;  the  two  latter  copies  bear  the  date  of 
1564,  but  they  are  otherwise  identical  with  the  edition  of  1563);  Discours 
adtnirables,  1580;  GLuvres  completes,  ed.  P.  A.  Cap,  1844;  ed.  A.  France, 
1880;  ed.  B.  Fillon,  2  vols.  Niort,  1888  (best  edition,  with  a  notice  by 
L.  Audiat).  CEuvres  choisies,  ed.  E.  Muller,  1890  (followed  by  Pares 
Voyages,  a  cheap  and  convenient  edition  with  modernised  spelling;.  The 
Art  de  Terre  has  been  reprinted  separately  by  Fick,  Geneva,  1863. 

TO    BE   CONSULTED. 

Dr  Le  Paulmier,  Ambroise  Pare  d'apres  de  nouveaux  documents^ 
1884;  S.  Paget,  A.  Pare  and  his  times,  1897. 

B.  Fillon,  Lettres  ecrites  de  la  Vendue,  1861;  L'art  de  Terre  che  lei 
Poitevins,  1864.  L.  Audiat,  B.  Palissy;  Etude  sur  sa  vie  et  ses  travau  1 . 
1868.  E.  Dupuy,  B.  Palissy,  1894.  The  best  account  of  Palissy  in 
English  is  by  Mrs  Mark  Pattison  (Lady  Dilke)  in  The  Renaissance 
Art  in  France,  11.  246  ff.  1879.  H.  Morley's  Palissy  the  Potter  (1852; 
1865;  1869)  is  rambling  and  uncritical.  Audiat  gives  .1  very  full 
bibliography  in  his  introduction  to  Fillon's  edition,  I.  ci-clxxii. 


CHAPTER    XXI 

MONTAIGNE 

We  now  come  to  the  central  figure  of  this  third  period  of 
the  French  Renaissance,  Michel  de  Montaigne.  It  is  a  name 
which  has  always  had  a  pleasant  flavour  for  Englishmen. 
From  Shakespeare  and  Bacon  to  Edward  Fitzgerald  and 
Robert  Louis  Stevenson  English  men  of  letters  have  cherished 
him  with  a  peculiar  affection.  Indeed  Peter  Coste  in  the 
preface  to  his  edition  of  the  Essays,  published  at  London  in 
1724,  declared  that  he  met  with  a  more  favourable  entertain- 
ment here  than  in  his  native  country.  The  fact  is  that 
Montaigne  appeals  with  equal  force  to  readers  of  every  na- 
tionality. "I  regard  all  men,"  he  says,  "as  my  compatriots 
and  embrace  a  Pole  as  readily  as  a  Frenchman."  Yet  for  all 
his  cosmopolitanism,  for  all  his  detachment  from  time  and 
place,  his  outlook  on  life  is  coloured  like  that  of  every 
writer  by  his  age  and  his  country,  and  we  must  understand 
these  in  order  to  read  his  book  aright.  Moreover  seeing  that 
his  book  expresses  his  own  personality  in  a  way  in  which  no 
other  book  expresses  that  of  its  author,  the  details  of  his  life 
have  a  special  interest  and  significance.  Many  of  these  details 
we  know  from  his  own  lips,  but  as  it  was  no  part  of  his  design 
to  leave  a  finished  picture  of  himself,  we  must  supplement 
our  knowledge  from  other  sources. 

His  family  name  was  originally  Eyquem.  He  assumed 
that  of  Montaigne,  from  a  small  estate  purchased  by  his 
great-grandfather,  Ramon  Eyquem,  a  rich  merchant  of 
Bordeaux  who  trafficked  in  wine,  salt  fish,  and  woad.  Here 
his    father,    Pierre    Eyquem,    was    born    in    1495,    and,    after 


CH.  XXI]  MONTAIGNE 


*37 


serving  in  the  wars  in  Italy,  settled  down  as  a  country 
gentleman,  adding  gradually  to  the  estate  and  rebuilding  the 
chateau1.  In  1528  he  married  Antoinette  de  Louppes,  whose 
father,  the  son  of  a  Spanish  Jew  of  the  widespread  family  of 
Lopes,  had  settled  as  a  merchant  at  Toulouse2.  x-\ntoinette 
was  apparently  a  Protestant,  and  one  of  her  sons  and  two 
of  her  daughters  were  either  brought  up  as  Protestants  or 
became  so  later3.  It  was  thus  in  his  own  family  that 
Montaigne  first  learnt  the  lesson  of  religious  toleration. 

Pierre  Eyquem  had  shewn  originality  in  exchanging  com- 
merce for  arms  and  a  town  life  for  that  of  a  country  gentleman. 
Though  with  little  learning  himself  he  had  acquired  in  Italy  a 
great  respect  for  learning  in  others,  together  with  some  novel 
views  on  education  which  he  proceeded  to  put  into  practice 
with  his  son  Michel  (the  first  of  his  children  who  survived 
infancy),  who  was  born  on  February  28,  1533.  Before  he 
could  speak  he  was  put  under  the  charge  of  a  German  tutor, 
named  Horstanus4,  who  knew  no  French  and  talked  to  him 
entirely  in  Latin.  The  same  language  was  exclusively  em- 
ployed not  only  by  two  assistant  tutors  but  by  the  whole 
household,  including  the  maidservants,  in  their  intercourse 
with  the  child.  It  must  be  remembered  that  it  was  the 
invariable  custom  in  the  grammar  schools  of  the  period  to 
insist  on  Latin  being  spoken,  but  it  was  difficult  to  enforce 
this  in  home  life5.  Pierre  Eyquem's  innovation  consisted  in 
introducing  it  at  this  early  stage  and  with  such  complete 
thoroughness. 

It  had  been  part  of  his  original  scheme  to  educate  the 
boy   at   home   for  a  considerable   period,  but   he  yielded    t<» 

1  Montaigne's  grandfather,  Grimon,  died  in  1519.  No  particulars  of  Pierre 
Eyquem's  campaigns  are  known,  but  he  doubtless  served  in  1524  and  152.-.  and 
again  in  1527.  He  married,  says  his  son,  sur  le  chemin  de  son  retour  d'ltalii 
(11.  ii>  where  he  draws  an  interesting  portrait  of  his  father).  It  i-  possible  thai  he 
may  have  taken  part  in  the  campaigns  of  151 5  and  15 16. 

-  Malvezin,  pp.  99  ff. 

s  ib.  p.  124. 

4  R.  Dezeimeris,  Renaissance  de  letters  a  Bordeaux,  p.  y~. 

5  See  a  colloquy  of  Corderius  (Cambridge,  1630,  book  ii  coll.  50)  in  winch 
one  of  the  speakers  is  called  Montanus. 


!38  MONTAIGNE  [CH. 

custom,  and  sent  him,  when  he  was  six,  to  the  newly  established 
and  flourishing  College  of  Guyenne  at  Bordeaux.  Here  Michel 
spent  seven  years  (1539— 1546),  the  staple  of  his  education 
being  Latin.  After  leaving  the  college  he  seems  to  have 
followed  for  two  years  the  philosophy  course  of  the  University, 
the  lectures  for  which  were  given  within  the  walls  of  the 
college1.  At  this  point  our  information  fails  us,  but  it  may 
be  regarded  as  almost  certain  that  it  was  at  Toulouse  that 
Montaigne  pursued  the  legal  studies  which  were  indispensable 
to  a  career  as  a  magistrate2.  He  began  this  career  in  1555  or 
1556,  when  his  father,  now  Mayor  of  Bordeaux,  resigned  in 
his  favour  his  seat  in  the  Cour  des  Aides  at  Perigueux:.  At 
the  close  of  1557  this  court  was  incorporated  with  the 
Parliament  of  Bordeaux. 

The  chief  importance  of  this  step  for  Montaigne  was  that 
it  brought  him  into  relations  with  Estienne  de  la  Boetie, 
though  it  was  not  on  the  bench  that  he  first  made  his  ac- 
quaintance. Nearly  all  his  biographers  have  dwelt  on  the 
influence  which  this  friendship  with  a  man  two  years  older 
than  himself,  and  his  superior  in  learning,  energy  and  character, 
had  upon  his  future  developement.  Born  at  Sarlat  in  Perigord 
on  November   1,  1530,  La  Boetie  had  taken   his  degree  of 

1  This  explanation,  which  is  due  to  M.  Bonnefon  (pp.  41-3),  seems  the  true 
one.  Montaigne's  father  was  one  of  the  jurats  of  Bordeaux  for  1546-7  and 
doubtless  had  to  reside  there.  For  the  account  of  Montaigne's  education  see 
Essais,  1.  xxv.  The  term  flre'eepteurs  domestic] ues  which  he  applies  to  Buchanan, 
Guerente,  Grouchy,  and  Muret  doubtless  means  that  they  acted  as  '  tutors '  in  the 
sense  common  in  English  public-schools,  as  distinguished  from  class-teachers. 
Buchanan  left  Bordeaux  in  1541,  Guerente  and  Grouchy  in  the  spring  of  1547. 
Muret  did  not  come  there  till  the  end  of  1547.  Grouchy  lectured  to  the  second - 
year  students  in  philosophy.  (See  E.  Gaullieur,  Hist,  du  college  de  Guynnie, 
pp.  89,  90  ;  P.  Hume  Brown,  George  Buclianan,  pp.  102 — 125.)  It  may  be  added 
that  Muret's  name  was  added  in  the  ed.  of  1582  and  the  word  domcstiijucs  in  that 
of  1588. 

2  Henri  de  Mesmes  does  not  mention  Montaigne  among  his  fellow-students, 
but  as  he  left  Toulouse  in  1548  this  may  be  accounted  for  by  Montaigne  not  having 
yet  gone  there.     The  law-school  at  Bordeaux  was  in  a  defective  state. 

3  Pierre  Eyquem  was  Mayor  from  Aug.  1,  1554,  to  Aug.  f,  1556;  he  may 
have  resigned  his  judgeship  at  once,  but  certain  forms  must  have  been  gone 
through  before  his  son  could  take  his  place.  The  legal  age  for  admission  to  the 
magistracy  was  twenty-five,  but  a  dispensation  was  easily  obtained. 


XXI]  MONTAIGNE  1 39 

licentiate  of  civil  law  at  Orleans  in  1553,  and  a  month  later 
had  been  appointed  a  councillor  of  the  Bordeaux  Parliament. 
He  was  a  man  of  sound  scholarship,  and  had  translated 
Plutarch's  treatise  on  Marriage  and  Xenophon's  treatise  on 
Domestic  Economy,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  he  was  something 
of  a  poet.  But  his  chief  title  to  fame  on  his  own  account 
is  the  famous  Contr'un  or  Discours  de  la  Servitude  volontaire1. 
Written  when  he  was  little  more  than  a  schoolboy,  though 
doubtless  revised  when  he  was  a  law  student  at  Orleans,  it  is 
to  be  regarded  as  a  schoolboy's  declamation  rather  than  as  a 
serious  contribution  to  political  theory2.  But  as  a  declamation 
it  is  exceedingly  fine,  and  shews  great  promise  of  literary 
excellence.  It  was  this  work  which  was  the  immediate  oc- 
casion of  the  celebrated  essay  on  Friendship  which  Montaigne 
dedicated  to  his  friend's  memory3.  It  had  been  his  intention 
to  publish  it  among  his  Essays,  but,  having  learnt  that  it  had 
already  appeared  in  a  collection  of  revolutionary  writings 
(Goulart's  Memoires  de  Vetat),  he  changed  his  mind  before 
the  publication  of  his  volume.  Happily  he  allowed  his  own 
introductory  essay  to  stand  just  as  he  had  written  it. 

1  The  Contr'un  was  first  published  in  entirety  in  vol.  Ill  of  the  Memoires  de 
Pestat  de  France  sous  Charles  IX,  edited  by  Simon  Goulart,  1576,  but  two  years 
previously  a  long  extract  had  appeared  in  the  second  part  of  the  Reveille-matin. 
There  is  also  in  the  Bib.  Nat.  a  MS  copy  made  for  Henri  de  Mesmes,  upon  which 
M.  Bonnefon  has  based  his  text. 

2  De  Thou's  statement,  that  it  was  inspired  by  Montmorency's  suppression  of 
the  sedition  at  Bordeaux  in  1549,  may  be  dismissed,  as  there  is  not  a  word  of 
allusion  to  this  event  in  the  treatise.  In  the  first  edition  of  the  Essais  Montaigne 
said  that  La  Boetie  wrote  it  in  his  eighteenth  year,  i.e.  in  1548,  but  later  he 
corrected  this  to  sixteen.  Probably  he  had  not  any  precise  information  on  the 
s.ibject.  In  any  case  the  treatise  must  have  undergone  revision  later,  probably  at 
thi-  hands  of  La  Boetie  himself,  for  the  words  notre  poesie  francoise...faite  toutt  a 
neuf  par  nostre  Ronsard,  nostre  Ba'if,  nostre  du  Bellay  could  not  possibly  have 
been  vritten  before  1550,  and  hardly  before  1552,  when  Baif,  then  only  twenty, 
published  his  first  volume  of  poems.  M.  Bonnefon  indeed  conjectures  that  the 
whole  treatise  was  written  at  this  later  date,  when  La  Boetie  was  at  Orleans,  and 
that  it  bears  1  races  of  the  influence  of  Anne  du  Bourg,  at  that  time  a  Law-professoi 
at  the  University.  {Montaigne  et  ses  amis,  1.  143— 163-)  This  vi(-'w  "f  course 
involves  throwing  over  Montaigne,  and  it  is  safer  to  assign  the  original  composition 
to  the  earlier  date,  and  to  suppose  that  the  work  was  revised  later,  which  would 
account  for  the  comparative  maturity  of  the  style. 

3  Essais,  I.  xxv. 


.: 


140 


MONTAIGNE  [CH. 


Par  ce  que  e'estoit  luy,  par  ce  que  cestoit  moy\  These  are 
the  simple  and  immortal  words  in  which  he  gives  the  reason 
for  his  friendship.  If  La  Boetie  recognised  Montaigne's 
greater  genius,  in  his  turn  he  exercised  a  salutary  influence 
on  his  friend's  pleasure-loving  and  somewhat  indolent  nature, 
leading  him  by  precept  and  example  to  a  higher  conception 
o\  duty  and  a  more  rigorous  practice  of  self-control2.  But 
the  friendship  was  destined  to  be  short-lived,  or  rather  its 
earthly  term  was  cut  short  in  order  that  it  might  become 
eternal3.  On  August  18,  1563,  La  Boetie  died,  having  be- 
queathed to  his  friend  his  books  and  his  papers.  A  full 
and  touching  account  of  his  last  illness  and  death  is  given 
by  Montaigne  in   a  letter  to  his  father4. 

On  September  23,  1565,  Montaigne  married  Francoise  de 
la  Chassaigne,  the  daughter  of  a  fellow  councillor.  Though 
he  had  not  married  to  please  himself — "  I  would  not  have 
married  Wisdom  herself  had  she  wanted  me " — Mme  de 
Montaigne  made  him  an  excellent  wife,  looking  after  his 
household  and  property  (a  task  for  which  he  himself  shewed 
singular  incapacity),  respecting  his  humours,  admiring  his 
genius,  and  after  his  death  cherishing  his  fame  with  loyal 
affection3.  He  in  his  turn  seems  to  have  been  a  kind  and 
considerate  husband. 

The  next  event  in  his  life  was  the  death  of  his  father  on 
June  18,  1568,  by  which  he  became  master  of  a  considerable 
fortune  including  the  chateau  and  estate  of  Montaigne.  His 
first  care  was  to  complete  a  task  which  he  had  undertaken  at 
his  father's  request,  the  translation  of  a  Latin  work  entitled 
Thcologia  naturalis,  by  Raymond  de  Sebonde,  the  purport  of" 

1  These  words  were  added  in  the  edition  of  1588. 

-  See  the  satyre  Mine  excellente,  addressed  to  Montaigne  by  La  Boetie  (CE  uvres, 
zi-  ff.). 

:;  Montaigne  says  the  friendship  lasted  four  years  ('four  or  five'  in  t  .«;  original 
edition). 

4   (Eitvres,  edd.  Courbet  and  Royer,  iv.  307. 

■"'  She  was  born  in  1544  and  was  therefore  21  at  the  time  of  h  er  marriage;  she 
died  in  1627.  Montaigne  hardly  ever  refers  to  her  in  the  Essays,  out  an  affectionate 
letter  to  her,  written  in  1570,  has  survived  ((Euvres,  iv.  305).  Some  of  her  letters, 
written  after  his  death,  have  been  published  (E.  Richou,  Invei  it  aire,  pp.  275  ff.). 


XXI]  MONTAIGNE  t^t 

which  was  to  establish  the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion  by 
nature  and  reason.  The  translation  was  indeed  finished  at 
the  time  of  the  elder  Montaigne's  death,  but  it  had  not  been 
printed.  It  was  now  sent  to  the  press,  and  it  appeared  early 
in  15691,  but  without  the  translator's  name.  Having  paid 
this  debt  to  his  father's  memory  Montaigne  proceeded  to 
honour  that  of  his  friend,  La  Boetie,  by  publishing  his  trans- 
lations from  Xenophon  and  Plutarch,  together  with  his  French 
and  Latin  poems.  They  appeared  early  in  the  year  1571. 
It  is  noteworthy  that  the  Latin  poems  are  dedicated  to  Michel 
de  l'Hospital  in  a  letter  which  ends  with  a  warm  tribute  to 
the  ex-Chancellor's  capacity  and  singular  qualities2.  Eighteen 
months  before  L'Hospital  had  resigned  the  seals,  his  policy  of 
toleration  having  failed.  This  tribute  from  Montaigne  to  the 
fallen  statesman,  paid  while  civil  war  was  still  raging,  testifies 
to  his  belief  in  that  policy. 

Soon  after  writing  this  dedication  Montaigne  resigned  his 
seat  in  the  Parliament  of  Bordeaux  in  favour  of  Florimond 
de  Raemond,  the  future  Catholic  historian  of  Protestantism, 
and  went  to  live  in  retirement  on  his  estates.  An  inscription 
in  his  cabinet  or  study,  dated  on  his  thirty-eighth  birthday 
(February  28,  1 57 1),  proclaims  that  weary  of  public  life 
{servitii  aulici  et  munerum  publicorum  iamdudum pertaesus)  he 
had  retired  to  the  bosom  of  the  learned  virgins  to  spend  there 
the  rest  of  his  days  in  repose  and  freedom  from  all  care  {ubi 
quietus  et  omnium  securus  \ijuan\tillum  id  tandem  superabit. . . 
exigat)*.  The  inscription  is  characteristic,  for  after  all  there 
was  nothing  very  remarkable  in  this  retirement  of  Montaigne's 
from  public  life.  His  judicial  duties  were  distasteful  to  him 
and  he  had  his  property  to  look  after.  And  though  he  found 
by  experience  that  the  management  of  an  estate  was  no  more 
congenial  to  him  than  the  work  of  a  magistrate-,  In-  had 
always  taken  seriously  his  position  as  a  landed   proprietor. 

1  The  printing  was  finished  on  Dec.  30,  156s. 

-  The  letter  of  dedication  is  dated  April  30,  1570. 

3  For  the  whole  inscription  see  Galy  and  Lapeyre,  p.  36  I 
exigat  with  istas  sedes  in  the  sense  of  '  to  complete,'  and  in  this  th 
by  M.  Bonnefon. 


IA2  MONTAIGNE  [CH. 

He  might  indeed  have  exchanged  the  gown  for  the  sword,  for 
a  soldier's  life  sometimes  appealed  strongly  to  him,  but  in 
the  present  unhappy  state  of  his  country  he  was  debarred  by 
his  principles  from  taking  a  side.  He  would  fight  neither  for 
nor  against  the  Protestants,  so  like  Jean  de  la  Taille1  he 
retired  to  his  estates  and  his  books,  and  tried  to  put  in  practice 
those  sentiments  of 

Beatus  ille,  qui  procul  negotiis, 
Ut  prisca  gens  mortalium, 
Paterna  rura  bobus  exercet  suis, 

which  so  many  of  his  contemporaries  were  expressing  in  verse. 
The  main  building  of  Montaigne's  cJiatean  after  frequent 
transformations  was  burnt  down  in  1885,  but  the  famous 
tower,  in  which  he  had  his  library  and  his  study,  is  still 
standing,  and  save  for  the  gradual  decay  of  the  paintings  and 
the  increasing  defacement  of  the  inscriptions,  is  practically 
unchanged-.  The  library  with  the  adjoining  cabinet,  assez 
poly,  is  on  the  second  story,  and  here  in  summer  Montaigne 
spent  the  greater  part  of  the  day.  It  is  nearly  circular  in 
shape,  the  longer  diameter  being  nearly  twenty-seven  feet 
and  the  shorter  rather  more  than  twenty-two  feet3.  From 
three  windows  it  commands  a  wide  view  of  the  adjacent 
country  in  three  different  directions4.  The  books,  which  in 
1588  numbered  about  a  thousand,  the  greater  part  bound  in 
white  vellum,  were  ranged  in  bookcases  round  the  room,  each 
case  containing  five  shelves.  As  we  have  seen,  some  of  them 
had  been  bequeathed  to  Montaigne  by  La  Boetie,  and  it  was 
to  La  Boetie's  memory  that  the  whole  collection  was  dedicated 
in  an   inscription  which  formerly  adorned  the  frieze5.     The 

1  See  ante,  p.  83. 

2  The  chateau,  which  was  rebuilt  after  the  fire,  is  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the 
station  of  La  Mothe-Montravel  (36  miles  from  Bordeaux  by  rail  and  abont  20 
from  Bergerac).  The  present  owner,  the  Marquise  de  Reverseau,  inherited  it 
from  her  father  M.  Magne,  the  Finance  Minister  of  Napoleon  III. 

3  See  Galy  and  Lapeyre's  plan  ;  also  Payen  n°.  4  for  illustrations  and  plans 
of  the  whole  tower. 

*  Essais,  in.  3. 

8  It  was  transcribed  in  the  18th  century;  see  Bonnefon,  1.  245. 


XXI]  MONTAIGNE 


H3 


presence  of  Montaigne's  signature  in  from  seventy  to  eighty 
volumes  which  still  exist  enables  us  with  the  help  of  various 
remarks  in  the  Essais  in  some  measure  to  reconstruct  his 
library1.  Les  historiens  sont  le  way  gibier  de  mon  estnde-,  and 
in  conformity  with  this  remark  we  find  that  thirty-one  out  of 
the  surviving  works  relate  to  history.  By  far  the  most  in- 
teresting is  a  copy  of  Caesar's  Commentaries,  covered  with 
annotations  in  Montaigne's  handwriting3.  Among  the  modern 
historians  the  Italians  are  naturally  the  best  represented. 
Montaigne  also  had  a  special  liking  for  the  Italian  letter- 
writers,  of  whom  he  tells  us  that  he  had  a  hundred  volumes. 
The  best,  he  considered,  was  Annibale  Caro,  translator  of  the 
JEneid,  and  secretary  to  Pierluigi  Farnese,  Duke  of  Parma4. 

Thirteen  of  Montaigne's  Italian  books  have  survived, 
among  them  being  two  which  deal  with  the  subject  of  spiritual 
love,  the  Dialogld  di  aviore  of  Leo  Hebraeus3  and  a  translation 
of  the  Spanish  romance  //  carcel  de  amor6.  There  are  thirty- 
five  Latin  books  and  eight  Greek  ones,  but  a  copy  of  the 
Odyssey,  covered  with  marginal  notes,  has  unfortunately  dis- 
appeared7. Montaigne  was  not  much  of  a  Greek  scholar, 
and  doubtless  read  his  Greek  authors,  Plato  and  Aristotle, 
Herodotus  and  Xenophon,  in  translations,  as  we  know  he  read 
his  favourite  Plutarch.  But  he  had  a  copy  of  Froben's  Greek 
and  Latin  edition  (1560)  of  the  Lives. 

The  most  remarkable  feature  in  the  library  was  the  Greek 
and  Latin  sentences  painted  on  the  beams  of  the  ceiling3. 
Ecclesiastes  supplies  twelve,  the  majority  of  these  being 
painted  over  earlier  ones  taken  from  other  sources,  the 
Florilegium  of  Stobaeus   (chiefly  the  discourse  De  superbia) 


1  See  P.  Bonnefon,  La  Bibliotheque  de  Montaigne  in  Rev.  iVliist.  litt.  11.  (1895) 
313  ff.  ;  Montaigne  et  ses  amis,  I.  248  ff. 

2  In  the  later  editions  sont  ma  droicte  balle. 

s  Printed    by    Plantin,    Antwerp,    1570;    it    was   bought   on    the    quais    for 
90  centimes,  and  is  now  at  Chantilly.    See  Payen,  n°.  3,  -29  fT. ;  Bonnefon,  I.  -•''.;  ff. 

4  Essais,  1.  39. 

5  Venice,  1549.     This  and  two  other  volumes  have  the  motto  Mentrt  pi 

6  Venice,  1546;  see  ante,  1.  51. 

7  It  belonged  to  the  elder  Mirabeau  (Bonnefon,  1.  25?). 

8  See  Galy  and  Lapeyre. 


,44  MONTAIGNE  [CH. 

eight,  of  which  all  except  one  are  quotations  from  the  Greek 
dramatists,  St  Paul's  Epistles  five,  the  Old  Testament  three, 
and  Lucretius  three.  Only  one  modern  writer  has  the 
honour  of  furnishing  a  text,  and  that  is  Michel  de  l'Hospital 
from  whose  epistle  to  Margaret,  Duchesse  de  Berry,  is  taken 

Nostra  vagatur 
In  tenebris,  nee  caeca  potest  mens  cernere  verum1. 
With  hardly  an  exception— Terence's  Homo  sum,  humani  nil 
a  me  alienum  puto  is  one— all  the  texts  repeat  the  same 
burden,  the  vanity  and  ignorance  of  man.  Finally  in  long 
scrolls  on  the  two  main  beams,  as  well  as  on  four  of  the 
shorter  joists,  are  inscribed  twelve  Sceptic  formulae,  chiefly 
taken  from  Sextus  Empiricus. 

During  the  years  from  1571  to  1580  Montaigne  lived  for 
the  most  part  quietly  at  his  chateau,  reading  his  books  and 
writing  his  essays.  He  was  occasionally  absent  from  home 
for  some  months  at  a  time'-,  and  on  one  occasion  at  least 
played  a  part  in  public  affairs.  In  the  spring  of  1574  the 
commander  of  the  royalist  army  of  Poitou,  the  Due  de 
Montpensier,  had  established  his  camp  at  Sainte-Hermine, 
and  Montaigne  came  there  apparently  for  the  purpose  of 
offering  his  services.  At  any  rate  Montpensier  sent  him  on  a 
mission  to  Bordeaux  to  urge  on  the  authorities  the  pressing 
necessity  of  taking  vigilant  precautions  against  a  possible 
Huguenot  attack3. 

Towards  the  close  of  1579  the  writing  of  the  First  and 
Second  books  of  the  Essays  was  completed  and  they  were 
sent  to  Bordeaux  to  be  printed  by  Simon  Millanges,  a  former 
professor  of  the  College  of  Guyenne.  They  appeared  in  the 
spring  of  1580  in  two  volumes  of  unequal  thickness  and 
printed  in  different  type4.     Each  book  occupied  a  volume. 

1  Epistolarum  libri  sex,  1585,  p.  84  (lib.  ii).  Though  the  collected  edition  of 
his  poems  was  not  published  till  1585  several  had  appeared  separately  in  his 
lifetime. 

2  Les  occasions  we  tiennent  ailleurs  parfoisplusieurs  mois  [Essais,  III.  37). 

;i  Montaigne  refers  to  the  mission,  without  mentioning  its  import,  in  his  copy 
of  Beuther's  Ephemerides,  which  he  used  as  a  diary.  The  Bordeaux  Parliament 
gave  him  audience  on  May  11  (Payen,  n°.  2,  p.  20).     See  also  Bonnefon,  I.  275  ff. 

4  The  avis  an  lecteur  is  dated  in  the  original  edition  March  1 . 


XXI]  MONTAIGNE 


1 45 


For  the  last  two  years  Montaigne  had  suffered  from 
attacks  of  the  stone  and  gravel,  and  it  was  chiefly  from  a 
desire  to  try  the  effects  of  various  foreign  waters,  though  partly 
also  from  his  innate  restlessness  and  love  of  travel,  that  he 
left  home  on  June  22,  1580,  for  a  long  absence.  He  was 
present  at  the  siege  of  La  Fere  in  Picardy  by  the  royalist 
troops,  when  his  friend  Philibert  de  Gramont,  the  husband  of 
la  belle  Corisande,  was  struck  by  a  cannon-ball  and  died 
four  days  afterwards  (August  6)1.  After  attending  his  friend's 
funeral  at  Soissons  he  started  on  his  tour  in  company  with 
his  youngest  brother,  M.  de  Mattecoulon,  then  a  lad  of  twenty, 
M.  de  Cazalis  (probably  his  brother-in-law),  M.  du  Hautoy, 
and  a  youth  named  Charles  d'Estissac,  doubtless  the  son  of 
the  lady  to  whom  one  of  the  Essays  is  dedicated-,  who  was 
especially  intrusted  to  his  care.  The  first  halt  of  any  length 
was  at  Plombieres  in  the  Vosges,  where  Montaigne  drank  the 
waters  for  eleven  days.  From  there  the  travellers  passed  through 
Switzerland  to  Augsburg,  and  so  by  way  of  Munich,  Innsbruck, 
and  the  Brenner  to  Venice,  which  they  reached  on  November  5. 
Travelling  by  way  of  Bologna,  Florence,  and  Siena  they 
arrived  at  Rome  on  November  30,  and  settled  there  for  the 
winter.  They  left  Rome  on  April  19,  1581,  and  after  paying 
a  visit  to  the  famous  Casa  Santa  at  Loreto  reached  the 
Baths  of  Lucca  on  May  8.  Here,  except  for  a  seven  weeks' 
visit  to  Florence,  Pisa  and  Lucca  (June  21 — August  14). 
Montaigne  resided  till  September  12,  taking  the  baths  and 
drinking  the  waters.  On  the  1st  of  October  he  was  back 
at  Rome,  where  he  found  an  official  letter  from  the  jurats  of 
Bordeaux  informing  him  that  he  had  been  elected  to  the 
office  of  Mayor  on  August  1,  a  piece  of  news  of  which  he 
had  already  heard  in  a  letter  from  a  friend.  He  at  first 
declined  the  honour,  but  he  left  Rome  after  only  a  short 
stay,  and  returned  to  France  by  the  Mont  Cenis,  reaching  Ins 
home  on  the  30th  of  November.  Pressed  to  reconsider  his 
decision,  and  receiving  a  letter  from  the  King  which  amounted 


1    l'ayen  n".  3  p.  15  ;  Essais,  III.  4. 

-  11.  8.     De  F affection  de*  peres  aux  enfant*. 

T.  II. 


,46  MONTAIGNE  [CH. 

to   a   command,    he    changed    his   mind    and    accepted    the 

office1. 

In  quiet  times  it  was  a  responsible  rather  than  a  laborious 
post,  and  did  not  necessitate  continual  residence  in  the  town. 
For  the  ordinary  municipal  duties  were  performed  by  the 
jurats,  and  it  was  only  on  special  occasions  that  the  inter- 
vention of  the  Mayor  in  person  was  required.  The  outgoing 
Mayor,  the  well-known  Marechal  de  Biron,  who  had  also 
held  the  post  of  Lieutenant-general  of  Guyenne,  had  shewn 
more  zeal  than  discretion,  and  had  been  generally  un- 
popular. Montaigne's  election  was  no  doubt  as  much  due 
to  his  known  good  sense  and  moderation  as  to  the  fact 
that  his  father  had  been  Mayor  before  him.  The  new 
Lieutenant-general  of  the  province  was  the  Marechal  de 
Matignon,  a  man  of  conciliatory  measures,  whose  capacity 
was  equal  to  his  tact2.  France,  as  we  have  seen,  had  had  a 
respite  from  civil  war  since  the  close  of  the  year  1580,  and 
the  two  years'  term  of  Montaigne's  office  passed  uneventful ly, 
but  with  such  satisfaction  to  the  citizens  of  Bordeaux  that  on 
August  1,  1583,  he  was  re-elected  for  a  second  term  of  office. 

One  of  his  first  duties  after  re-election  was  to  approve  the 
statutes  of  his  old  college  of  Guyenne,  which  had  recently 
been  printed.  But  more  troubled  times  were  impending.  The 
death  of  the  Due  d'Alencon,  the  King's  only  brother,  in  June, 
1584,  left  a  heretic  next  in  the  succession  to  the  crown,  and 
at  the  close  of  the  year  the  League  was  revived  with  a  new 
and  more  efficient  organisation  for  the  express  purpose  of 
excluding  that  heretic  from  the  throne.  Even  before  this  there 
had  been  some  infractions  of  the  peace.    In  December,  1583,  the 

1  ye  trCen  excusay.  Mais  on  vCapprint  que  j'avois  tort ;  le  commemdemeni  du 
Roy  s,y  interposant  aussi.  Essais,  III.  to.  It  is  not  quite  clear  when  Montaigne 
changed  his  mind.  It  would  appear  from  the  yournal  die  Voyage  (ill.  370)  that 
he  left  Rome  sooner  than  he  had  intended.  But  the  King's  letter  is  only  dated 
November  25,  and  was  addressed  to  Rome  under  the  impression  that  Montaigne 
was  still  there  (Bonnefon,  II.  45).  It  is  quite  likely  however  that  at  Lyons  the 
bearer  of  the  letter,  having  heard  of  Montaigne's  presence  there  on  Nov.  15,  sent 
it  direct  to  his  home,  in  which  case  he  would  have  got  it  very  soon  after  his 
arrival. 

2  Brantome  describes  him  as  tin  tres-fin  et  trinquat  normand,  et  qui  battoit 
froid  d aidant  que  t  autre  (Biron)  battoit  cliaud  (CEuvres,  v.    159). 


XXI]  MONTAIGNE 


147 


King  of  Navarre  had  seized  the  town  of  Mont-de-Marsan  in 
Gascony,  which  formed  part  of  the  government  of  Guyenne, 
and  Du  Plessis-Mornay  had  written  several  letters  to  Montaigne 
on  the  subject,  assuring  him  of  his  master's  peaceful  intentions1. 
A  year  later,  on  the  19th  of  December,  1584,  the  King  of 
Navarre  paid  a  memorable  visit  to  Montaigne's  chateau  ac- 
companied by  some  of  the  leading  Protestant  nobles,  including 
Conde,  Rohan,  Turenne  (the  future  Due  de  Bouillon),  Sully 
and  Lesdiguieres.  It  was  a  special  mark  of  the  King's  con- 
fidence that  he  slept  in  his  host's  bed  and  ate  his  food  without 
allowing  the  usual  precautions  against  poison  to  be  taken. 
The  next  morning  they  hunted  in  Montaigne's  forest.  The 
stag,  Montaigne  records  with  pride,  was  a  good  one'-. 

On  March  31,  1585,  the  Cardinal  of  Bourbon  and  other 
Catholic  princes  and  nobles  issued  their  manifesto,  which  was 
a  prelude  to  war.  About  the  same  time  the  supporters  of  the 
League  at  Bordeaux  began  to  conspire  under  the  leadership 
of  M.  de  Vaillac,  but  thanks  to  the  energy  of  Matignon,  ably 
seconded  by  Montaigne,  the  town  remained  unshaken  in  its 
loyalty".  The  last  two  months  of  Montaigne's  term  of  office 
were  signalised  by  a  terrible  outbreak  of  the  plague  at 
Bordeaux  and  elsewhere  in  Guyenne4.  There  was  a  panic  at 
Bordeaux,  and  some  modern  critics  of  Montaigne  have  de- 
clared that  he  should  have  set  an  example  of  devotion  and 
courage  by  taking  up  his  residence  in  the  town.  But  he  had 
his  own  family  to  look  after,  for  the  contagion  had  spread  to 
the  neighbourhood  of  his  chateau,  and  it  was  necessary  to 
establish  them  in  a  place  of  safety,  which  he  found  apparently 
at  Libourne5.     On  the  31st  of  July  his  term  of  office  expired. 

1   Bonnefon,  II.  79 — 90. 

-  //  n'y  sonffrait  ny  essai  ny  convert,  et  dormit  dans  won  lit hi  partir  de 

ceans  je  luifis  eslamer  un  cerfen  maforetquilepromena  2  jours.     Payen  11 '.  3  |>.  16. 

:i  See  two  letters  of  Montaigne  to  Matignon  written  in   May,  1585   ■' ' 
iv.  349  ft'.  ;  Bonnefon,  11.  119  ff.).     And  cf.  J.  Dussieux,  Lettres  intimes  de  Ilairi 
IV,  pp.  56—66. 

4  40,000  persons  died  at  Bordeaux  from  June  to  December.     Sec  Montaigne's 
touching  description  of  the  plague  in  his  neighbourhood,  Essais,  ill.   1 :. 

5  His  letter  to  the  jurats  of  July  30  is  dated  from   Libourne.     [CEttvt 
Courbet  and  Royer,  iv.  354.) 

10—2 


[48 


MONTAIGNE  [CH. 


It  was  not  till  the  close  of  the  year  that  the  cessation  of 
the  plague  allowed  Montaigne  to  return  to  his  home.  Here 
for  the  next  two  years  he  seems  to  have  occupied  himself 
chiefly  with  his  books  and  his  Essays,  the  only  noteworthy 
incident  being  that  Henry  of  Navarre  dined  with  him  on 
October  24,  1587,  on  his  way  to  Sainte-Foy1,  four  days  after 
his  victory  at  Coutras,  the  first  victory  gained  by  the  Pro- 
testants since  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war.  By  February, 
158s,  he  had  completed  the  Third  book  of  his  Essays  and 
had  made  considerable  additions  to  the  First  and  Second 
books.  Accordingly  he  set  out  for  Paris  to  see  about  the 
publication  of  a  new  edition2.  It  appeared  about  the  middle 
of  June3.  In  the  following  month,  Paris  being  now  completely 
in  the  hands  of  the  League,  he  made  acquaintance  with  the 
inside  of  the  Bastille,  but  was  released  before  nightfall  through 
the  intervention  of  Catharine  de'  Medici4.  Soon  after  this 
incident  he  paid  a  visit  of  some  duration  to  Gournay-sur- 
Aronde  in  Picardy,  the  home  of  Marie  de  Gournay,  a  young 
lady  whose  enthusiastic  admiration  for  the  Essays,  which  she 
had  read  two  or  three  years  before,  had  led  her  to  make  the 
author's  acquaintance  at  Paris*.  Montaigne  was  at  Blois  when 
the  Estates-General  opened  on  October  15,  having  followed 
the  Court  there,  as  he  had  already  followed  it  to  Chartres 
and  Rouen.  Pasquier  and  De  Thou  have  both  left  a  record 
of  conversations  which  they  had  with  him  at  this  time6. 

J   Henri  IV,  Lettres  missives,  II.  602. 

-  It  was  on  this  journey  that  he  was  attacked  by  a  band  of  Leaguers  and 
stripped  of  his  money  and  papers,  but  speedily  changing  their  minds  they  let  him 
go  free  and  gave  him  back  all  his  possessions.  Sec  his  letter  to  Matignorj 
[CEuvres,  IV.  357)  and  Essais,  III.    12. 

3  The  privilege  is  dated  June  4,  and  the  preface  June  1  2. 

4  Payen  n°.  3  p.  17. 

0  She  was  the  daughter  of  Guillaume  de  Jars  and  was  born  in  October,  1565. 
See  Essais,  11.  17.  Montaigne  paid  two  or  three  visits  to  Gournay,  spending  in  all 
three  months  there  (Pasquier,  Lettres,  xviii.  1)  ;  Mlle  de  Gournay  recorded  her 
reminiscences  of  the  visit  in  a  romance  entitled  Le  Pronmenoir  de  M.  de  Montaigne 
which  she  sent  to  him  in  manuscript  at  the  end  of  November,  15S8.  and  which 
was  published  in  1594.     For  an  account  of  her  see  Bonnefon,  II.  315  ff. 

,;  Pasquier,  loc.  (it.;  De  Thou,  Meinoires,  in  Michaud  and  Poujoulat, 
xi.  330. 


x-^l]  MONTAIGNE  I49 

Montaigne  returned  home  in  October  or  November  and 
tried  to  forget  in  reading  and  writing  the  frequent  pain 
which  his  malady  now  caused  him.  Though  he  wrote  no 
fresh  Essays  he  was  constantly  adding  to  the  old  ones.  From 
the  numerous  citations  from  Plato  which  appear  for  the  first 
time  in  the  posthumous  edition1  we  may  conclude  that  he 
read  some  of  his  dialogues  at  this  period.  In  1589  he  carried 
on  a  correspondence  with  Lipsius,  in  whose  praise  he  had 
introduced  a  passage  in  the  last  edition  of  the  Essays-.  A 
greater  interest  attaches  to  his  correspondence  with  Henry  IV, 
whose  succession  to  the  throne  (Aug.  2,  1589)  must  have  been 
medicine  to  his  pains.  Two  of  his  letters  to  the  King  have 
been  preserved.  Both  are  models  of  manly  frankness.  The 
first,  dated  January  8,  1590,  is  of  some  length,  and  shews  a 
statesmanlike  appreciation  of  the  political  condition".  The 
second,  dated  September,  1590,  is  much  shorter,  being  evi- 
dently an  answer  to  an  offer  from  the  King  of  some  post  or 
other  pecuniary  reward4.  His  proud  refusal  reminds  one  of 
the  famous  passage  in  the  King's  letter  to  M.  De  Launay, 
(i  Argent  11  est  pas  pdture  pour  des  gentilshotinnes  commc  vans  et 
moi"  "  Quand  fauray  e'puisc  ma  bourse  aupres  de  Votre 
Majeste\je prendray  la hardiesse  de  le  luy  dire"  says  Montaigne, 
and  the  words  ring  truer  from  one  who  is  refusing  money 
than  from  one  who  is  asking  for  it. 

Unfortunately  Montaigne  did  not  live  to  see  the  complete 
triumph  of  that  royalist  cause  to  which  he  had  adhered  with 
such  singleness  of  heart  and  purpose.  He  died  of  quinsy  on 
the  13th  of  September,  1592,  in  his  sixtieth  year'. 

Montaigne  and  his  Essays  have  been  judged  with  remark- 

1   Especially  in  I.  xxiv  and  xxv. 

'-'  Lc  pins  scavant  homme  qui  nans  reste,  d'un  esprit  trcs-poiy  et  Judidcux, 
vrayment germain  &  mon  Turnebus,  11.  12. 

3  CEuvres,  IV.  356. 

4  ib-  363- 

5  Pasquier  loc.  cit.  gives  an  account  of  his  last  moments,  how,  while  mass  was 
being  said  in  his  room,  at  the  elevation  of  the  Host  ce pauvre  gentilliotm 

an  mains  mat  quHl  pent,  commc  it  cops  perdu,  sur  son  lit,  les  mail 

ce  dernier  acte  rendit  son  esprit  ii  Dicit.     But  he  was  not  an  eyewitness  "f  the  - 

See  also  P.  de  Brach's  letter  to  Lipsius  (Bonnefon,  n.  [83). 


i«;o 


MONTAIGNE  [CH. 


U 


able  diversity  of  opinion,  a  result  which  would  have  given 
peculiar  satisfaction  to  Montaigne  himself.  The  chief  questions 
which  have  been  raised  are  the  following.  What  was  the 
main  object  of  his  book?  Was  it  the  study  of  himself  as  an 
epitome  of  mankind,  or  was  it  the  teaching  of  a  certain 
philosophy?  What  was  this  philosophy?  To  what  extent 
was  it  sceptical  ?  Was  it  a  complete  system,  or  was  it  merely 
the  unformulated  scepticism  of  a  layman?  Was  it  Montaigne's 
final  attitude  towards  life,  or  was  it  a  phase  through  which  he 
passed  to  a  more  positive  philosophy  ?  What  was  his  position 
with  regard  to  the  Christian  religion  ?  Was  he  a  believer  or 
a  disbeliever,  or  was  he  simply  indifferent?  To  answer  all 
these  questions  with  any  certainty  is  possible  to  no  one  but 
Montaigne  himself;  but  the  most  hopeful  method  of  arriving 
at  the  truth  that  suggests  itself  is  to  trace  the  developement 
of  the  Essays  from  their  first  beginnings  to  their  final  stage. 

It  is  important  however  to  bear  in  mind  at  the  outset  that 
Montaigne,  like  Rabelais,  is  in  the  first  place  a  poet  and  an 
artist,  and  not  a  philosopher  or  a  moral  teacher.  As  Ruel 
has  well  said,  "  his  philosophy  is  the  servant  of  his  imagina- 
tion, or  rather  of  his  sensibility."  He  regards  alike  the  great 
world  without  him  and  the  little  world  within  him  in  an 
imaginative  spirit.  Like  Shakespeare  and  Rembrandt  he  is  at 
once  a  realist  and  an  idealist ;  he  looks  on  the  phenomena  of 
life  curiously  and  dispassionately,  but  he  interprets  them  by 
the  penetrating  light  of  his  own  imagination1. 

As  we  have  seen,  Montaigne  began  to  write  his  Essays 
either  in  1571  or  quite  at  the  beginning  of  1572.  His  first 
'attempts' — such  was  the  modest  name  he  gave  to  them2 — 


1  The  artistic  side  of  Montaigne  is  admirably  brought  out  in  Ruel"s  book, 
Du  sentiment  artistique  dans  la  morale  de  Montaigne. 

-  Cest  icy  purement  Tessai  de  mes  facultes  naturelles  (ll.  10  beginning).  This 
seems  to  justify  De  Thou's  and  Saint-Marthe's  rendering  of  £ssai  by  Conatus. 
G.  Guizot  (p.  69)  thinks  that  Lipsius's  Gustus  expresses  Montaigne's  real  meaning, 
and  some  support  is  given  to  this  view  by  the  passage  Le  jugement  est  nn  util  a 
tons  subjects,  et  se  mesle  par  tout.  A  cette  cause  aux  Essais  que  fen  fay  ici  j'y 
employe  toute  sorle  d'occasion.  Si  e'est  un  subject  que  je  nentende  point,  a  cela 
mesmeje  Vessaye,  sondant  le  gut  de  Men  loing  (i.  50  beg.).  A  similar  explanation 
is  given  in  the  dictionary  of  Hatzfeld,  Darmesteter,  and  Thomas. 


XXI]  MONTAIGNE  jr, 

were  extremely  short ;  an  anecdote  or  two,  chiefly  taken  from 
his  favourite  study,  history,  with  a  few  remarks  by  way  of 
moral.  Out  of  the  first  eighteen  Essays,  as  they  now  stand. 
the  only  one  in  which  there  is  no  anecdote  is  the  eighth, 
On  Idleness1.  All  the  anecdotes  deal  with  the  same  subject. 
and  that  subject  is  man.  In  the  very  first  Essay  we  meet 
with  that  estimate  of  him  which  Montaigne  was  never  weary 
of  proclaiming :  Cest  un  subject  merveilleusement  vain,  divers 
et  ondoyant,  que  Fhomme.  In  the  eighth  Essay  he  refers  for 
the  first  time  to  himself,  giving  the  reason  for  his  retirement 
from  public  life,  and  saying  that  idleness  had  bred  such  queer 
fancies  in  his  mind  that  in  order  to  put  it  to  shame  he  had 
begun  to  keep  a  register  of  them.  In  another  place  he  tells  us 
that  he  would  have  chosen  the  epistolary  form  for  his  fancies 
{verves)  had  he  found  a  suitable  correspondent,  but  that  he 
could  not  write  imaginary  letters2. 

In  the  nineteenth  Essay,  Que  philosopher  cest  apprendrc  a 
mourir,  which  we  learn  he  was  writing  on  the  15th  of  March, 
15723,  he  attempts  for  the  first  time  a  higher  flight.  The 
inevitability  of  death  was,  as  we  have  seen,  a  favourite  subject 
with  the  poets  of  the  Pleiad  school,  but  their  treatment  of  it 
is  at  once  less  realistic  and  less  imaginative  than  Montaigne's. 
His  description  of  the  death  chamber,  which  forms  the 
conclusion  of  the  Essay,  is  one  of  the  most  striking  passages 
of  his  book,  and  the  whole  Essay  shews  the  hand  of  a  master. 
Here  too  he  gives  us  one  or  two  personal  details.  He  tells  us 
the  day  and  hour  of  his  birth,  and  that  he  was  non  melan- 
cholique,  mats  songecreux. 

Of  the  other  Essays  in  the  First  book,  which  were  already 
of  considerable  length  on  their  first  appearance,  some,  such  as 

1  We  may  fairly  assume  that  with  some  exceptions  the  Essays  were  written 
more  or  less  in  the  order  in  which  they  were  printed.  The  few  thai  can  be  dated 
support  this  view,  but  it  would  be  unlike  Montaigne  never  to  have  departed  from 
the  chronological  order.  For  instance  the  famous  Es>ay  on  Education,  which  now 
stands  twenty-fifth  in  the  First  book,  cannot  have  been  written  befon  1579,  the 
year  in  which  Mme  de  Gurson  was  married.  Again  the  present  1.  40  was 
numbered  fourteen  in  the  editions  before    1595. 

-  I.  39  (added  in  1588). 

:i  //  ny  a  justement  </iee  quinze  jonrs  qitefayfratu  In  yj  atts. 


1  ?2 


MONTAIGNE  [CH. 


the  twenty-second,  the  twenty-third,  the  thirty-eighth,  the 
forty-second  and  the  forty-seventh,  cannot  be  dated  ;  but  the 
thirtieth  {On  Cannibals)  must  have  been  written  after  the 
death  of  Charles  IX  (May,  1574),  and  the  two  which  relate  to 
Estienne  dc  la  Boetie  (37  and  38)  belong  to  the  year  1574. 
The  famous  Essay  On  the  Education  of  Children,  in  which 
Montaigne  gives  an  account  of  his  own  education  with  other 
personal  reminiscences,  is  as  late  as  1579. 

In  the  sixth  Essay  of  the  Second  book,  On  Practice, 
written  at  the  latest  in  15741,  Montaigne,  after  relating 
at  considerable  length  the  effects  of  a  severe  fall  from  his 
horse,  concludes  with  "  Everyone,  as  Pliny  says,  is  an 
excellent  discipline  unto  himself,  provided  that  he  has  the 
capacity  to  pry  into  himself  closely.  I  am  not  writing  as  a 
teacher,  but  as  a  student :  it  is  not  another  man's  lesson,  it  is 
my  own2."  At  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  Essay  of  the  same 
book,  De  F  affection  des  peres  aux  en/ants,  addressed  to 
Mme  d'Estissac,  he  says  that  the  idea  of  writing  at  all  was  put 
into  his  head  by  the  melancholy  humour,  very  foreign  to  his 
nature,  which  solitude  had  bred  in  him,  and  that,  finding 
himself  totally  unprovided  with  a  subject,  he  had  taken 
himself  for  his  argument.  A  little  further  on  in  the  very 
interesting  Essay  On  Books{ll.  10),  he  warns  his  readers  not  to 
look  for  learning  in  his  book.  ':  These  are  but  my  fancies  by 
which  I  endeavour  not  to  make  things  known,  but  to  make 
myself  known." 

It  is  not  however  till  the  seventeenth  Essay,  On  Presumption, 
that  he  gives  us  a  full-length  portrait  of  himself.  Hitherto  he 
had  confined  himself  chiefly  to  his  opinions  ;  now,  after  some 
apologies  and  an  appeal  to  the  authority  of  the  Latin  satirist 
Lucilius,  he  boldly  launches  forth  in  a  detailed  description  of 
his  appearance  and  character.     But  he  is  not  quite  easy  about 

1  He  begins  his  narrative  with,  Pendant  nos  troisiemes  troubles  (1568 — 1570) 
i'/i  deusiemes  (1567 — 1568),  and  says  further  on  Me  sens  encore,  quatre  ems  apres, 
de  la  secousse  de  cete  froissure  (ed.  of  1580). 

-  Cc  n'est  pas  icy  ma  doctrine,  e'est  mon  estude,  et  n'est  pas  la  lecon  d'autruy, 
e'est  la  mienne.  The  chapter  ends  here  in  the  ed.  of  1580;  in  that  of  15N8  he 
added  three  or  four  pages  on  the  subject  of  self-portraiture. 


XXl]  MONTAIGNE 


153 


it,  for  the  next  Essay,  On  giving  the  lie,  opens  with  a  fresh 
apology,  or  rather  with  a  justification  of  his  design.  It  may 
be  objected,  he  says,  that  though  autobiography  is  excusable, 
even  desirable,  in  a  great  man,  no  one  cares  to  hear  about  an 
ordinary  man.  "  This  is  very  true,  but  it  does  not  concern 
me.  I  am  not  erecting  a  statue  to  set  up  in  the  market-place, 
or  in  a  church,  or  in  any  public  place  :  it  is  to  be  hidden  in 
the  corner  of  a  library,  for  the  entertainment  of  someone 
who  has  a  particular  interest  in  making  my  acquaintance; 
a  neighbour,  a  relation,  a  friend  who  will  take  pleasure  in 
renewing  my  acquaintance  in  my  portrait1." 

There  is  much  the  same  account  of  his  book  in  the  words 
addressed  to  Mme  de  Duras  which  form  an  envoi  to  the 
original  edition,  and  in  the  short  but  famous  preface.  In  the 
former  he  disclaims  all  pretension  to  be  a  man  of  letters ; 
je  suis  mo  ins  faiseur  de  livres,  que  de  nulle  autre  besogne.  The 
only  object  of  his  foolish  lucubrations  (ces  inepties)  is  to 
represent  him  as  he  naturally  is.  In  the  preface,  he  says  that 
his  book  is  for  the  particular  benefit  of  his  relations  and 
friends  :  C'est  moy  que  je  peins ;  Je  suis  moy-mesmes  la  matiere 
de  mon  livre.  But,  as  we  have  seen,  this  design  of  drawing  his 
own  portrait  had  been  of  very  gradual  growth,  and  it  is  only 
in  one  Essay,  that  On  Presumption,  that  he  has  given  full  play 
to  its  execution. 

His  book  was  a  great  success,  and  immediately  after  his 
return  from  his  travels  he  saw  a  second  edition  through  the 
press,  in  which  besides  correcting  the  typographical  error>  "I 
the  first  he  inserted  a  few  additional  passages-'.  It  appeared 
in  1582.  During  the  intervals  of  leisure  which  his  office  "i 
Mayor  allowed  him  he  doubtless  continued  his  design,  but  it 
can  only  have  been  after  the  expiration  of  his  second  term  ol 

1  In  the  preceding  Essay  (11.  17),  which  must  have  been  written  immediately 
before  this  one,   Montaigne  speaks  of  himself  a  '•'"•  '   *   l<> 

vielksse  aiant  franchi  les  quarante  aits.  M.  Bonnefon  takes  this  t<>  imply  that 
the  essay  was  written  about  1573,  when  lie  was  forty,  but  it  may  surely  imply  any 
date  up  to  1576  or  even  later. 

-  The  chief  additions  are  the  orthodox  declaration  at  the  beginning  <.f  the 
Essay  On  Prayers  (1.  56),  an  addition  u,  the  Essay  < hi  Presumption  (11.  17).  and  .1 
short  account  of  the  Baths  he  had  visited  on  hi.  journey,  added  to  II.  .',7- 


154 


MONTAIGNE  [CH. 


office  and  the  cessation  of  the  plague  that  he  was  able  once 
more  to  work  at  it  without  interruption1.  As  we  have  seen,  he 
sent  the  new  edition  to  the  press  early  in  1588,  and  it  appeared 
in  June  of  that  year,  "augmented  by  a  Third  Book,  and  by  six 
hundred  additions  to  the  first  two  books."  The  Third  Book 
differs  considerably  in  character  from  the  two  earlier  ones. 
Montaigne  writes  now  like  a  man  who  is  sure  not  only  of 
himself  but  of  his  public.  The  individual  Essays  are  much 
longer  and  he  now  boldly  proclaims  his  competence  to  deal 
with  his  subject.  "  No  man  ever  treated  a  subject  which  he 
understood  better  than  I  do  mine  ;  in  this  I  am  the  most 
learned  man  alive2."  The  ninth  Essay,  On  Vanity,  and  the 
thirteenth,  On  Experience,  are  rich  in  details  of  his  life  and 
character.  "  I  tell  the  truth,  not  to  my  heart's  content,  but  as 
much  as  I  dare  ;  and  as  I  grow  older,  I  grow  rather  more 
daring3."  But  it  is  not  only  in  the  new  Book,  but  in  the 
additions  to  the  earlier  Books  that  his  greater  boldness 
appears.  A  good  deal  of  the  new  matter,  it  is  true,  consists  of 
quotations,  of  which  he  made  only  sparing  use  in  the  earlier 
editions,  but  a  very  considerable  number  of  the  additions 
relate  to  himself. 

It  has  been  sometimes  said  that  because  many  of 
Montaigne's  quotations  are  incorrect  he  must  have  quoted 
from  memory.  But  Mlle  de  Gournay  expressly  tells  us  in 
her  preface  to  the  edition  of  1635  that  he  inserted  them  book 
in  hand,  and  he  himself  says  much  the  same  thing.  "  I  am 
for  ever  rifling  passages  in  books  which  please  me,  not  in 
order  to  remember  them,  for  I  have  no  memory,  but  to 
transfer  them  to  my  book4."  But  as  he  used  these  passages 
merely  to  fortify  opinions  already  formed  he  made  no  scruple 
in  altering  them  a  little  if  it  suited  him.  His  debts  are  by  no 
means    confined    to    quotations.     He    often    pillages  without 

1   He  only  wrote,  he  tells  us,  when  he  was  at  home,  and  cf.  III.  5  Pour  ct  mien 
dessein,  il  me  vient  aussi  h  propos,  d'escrire  ehez  may,  etc. 

ni.   2   (Du  repentir).     The  beginning  of  this  chapter  is  important  for  the 
understanding  of  Montaigne's  design. 

3  ib. 

4  1.  24  (added  in  ed.  of  1588)  and  cf.  a  passage  in  III.  1  2. 


XX  I]  MONTAIGNE 


DJ 


acknowledgement,  taking,  as  he  quaintly  says,  here  a  wing  and 
there  a  leg,  and  in  one  place  he  speaks  of  his  book  as 
completely  built  up  with  the  spoils  of  Plutarch  and  Seneca1. 
Yet  for  all  this  the  book  is  one  of  the  most  original  that  was 
ever  written.  As  Malebranche  says,  tout  copiste  qiiil  est  il  ne 
sent  point  son  copiste. 

The  practice  of  adding  fresh  matter  to  his  old  Essays  was 
continued  by  Montaigne  down  to  his  death,  so  that  when  he 
died  a  new  edition  of  his  book  was  required  in  order  to  present 
to  the  world  his  final  thoughts.  To  this  pious  task  Mme  de 
Montaigne,  with  the  assistance  of  Pierre  de  Brach,  devoted 
herself  with  loving  care,  with  the  result  that  in  the  early 
months  of  1594,  a  year  and  a  half  after  her  husband's  death, 
she  was  able  to  send  to  Mlle  de  Gournay  at  Paris  the  '  copy  ' 
of  the  new  edition  for  publication'-'.  It  appeared  in  the  course 
of  the  following  year,  15953,  and  it  is  described  on  the  title- 
page  as  "  a  new  edition  found  after  the  author's  death,  revised 
by  him,  with  additions  amounting  to  a  third  more  than  the 
preceding  editions." 

Now  the  public  library  of  Bordeaux  possesses  a  copy  of 
the  1588  edition  evidently  prepared  for  the  press  by  Montaigne 
himself.  There  are  minute  typographical  directions  to  the 
printer,  and  the  margins  are  filled  with  additions  in  his  beautiful 
writing,  which  though  sometimes  very  minute  is  quite  easy  to 
read4.  It  is  clear  that  this  is  the  copy  which  Montaigne 
destined  for  the  press.  It  is  however  equal ly  clear  that  by 
itself  it  does  not  constitute  the  whole  of  his  text  as  he  left  it. 
On  some  of  the  pages  he  has  completely  filled  the  margins, 
and  here  and  there  he  has  added  a  number  which  evidently 
refers  to  a  separate  sheet,  either  loose  or,  more  probably, 
affixed    to    the    printed    page    by  some    adhesive   substance. 


1  I.  32  (opening  sentence). 

2  R.  Dezeimeris  in  his  Recherches  sur  la  recension  du  /<  xte  postlimn 
Bordeaux,    1866,  has  elucidated  the  matter  satisfactorily  ;    Bonnefon  in.    iv°  "• 
and  373  ff.)  practically  agrees  with  him.     A  somewhat  different  view  is  taken  l>y 
L.  Manchon. 

:!  Probably  quite  early  in  the  year;  the  privilege  is  dated  Oct.  15,  1594- 
4  The  volume  has  unfortunately  been  badly  '  ploughed  '  by  the  binder. 


1  ;m  MONTAIGNE  [CH. 

Comparing  this  Bordeaux  copy  with  Mlle  de  Gournay's  edition 
of  1595  we  find  a  good  man}-  differences,  but  these  chiefly 
occur  in  the  new  passages  derived  from  the  manuscript.  The 
comparatively  few  alterations  which  Montaigne  made  in  the 
actual  text  of  1 588  have  been  adhered  to  by  the  1595  editors 
with  almost  complete  fidelity1.  For  instance,  in  the  twenty- 
eighth  Essay  of  the  First  book  Montaigne  has  drawn  his  pen 
through  all  La  Boetie's  sonnets,  and  in  the  1595  edition  the 
dedication  appears  without  the  sonnets,  a  manifest  absurdity, 
but  a  testimony  to  the  editors'  respect  for  their  author. 

On  the  whole  from  what  we  know  of  Pierre  de  Brach  and 
M11'  de  Gournay  we  have  good  reason  for  believing  that  they 
performed  their  task  faithfully  and  well.  Xo  doubt  in  some 
cases  they  may  have  missed  Montaigne's  last  intention,  which 
must  occasionally  have  been  very  difficult  to  trace  through  a 
scries  of  erasures- :  sometimes  too  perhaps,  as  M.  Bonnefon 
conjectures,  Mlle  de  Gournay  may  have  permitted  herself  to 
tone  down  a  word  or  phrase3 ;  but  on  the  whole  we  may  be 
reasonably  confident  that  variants  in  the  text  of  1595  from 
that  of  the  Bordeaux  copy  correspond  to  subsequent  alterations 
made  by  Montaigne  himself  on  separate  sheets,  which  no 
longer  exist  to  give  their  testimony4. 

The  practice  of  adding  to  his  Essays,  of  inserting  a  passage 
here  and  a  passage  there,  sometimes  to  the  great  detriment 
of  the  clear  sequence    of  thought,    is    a    peculiar  feature   in 

1  Comp.  the  page  of  which  there  is  a  facsimile  in  Petit  de  Julleville,  ill.  466 
(11.  end  of  c.  15  and  beginning  of  c.   16). 

-  For  instance,  they  have  dated  the  Jt'is  au  lecteur  June  12,  1580.  instead  of 
March  1,  1580,  the  manuscript  correction  for  June  12,  1588,  of  the  printed  text. 
This  was  corrected  by  MUe  de  Gournay  in  her  edition  of  1598.       - 

:i  The  passages  cited  by  M.  Bonnefon  in  Rev.  cThist.  Hit.  III.  (1896)  85  ff. 
hardly  support  his  view. 

4  This  view  is  practically  the  same  as  that  of  M.  Bonnefon.  It  is,  however, 
quite  possible,  as  M.  Dezeimeris  supposes,  that  Montaigne  had  begun  to  annotate 
another  copy.  In  any  case  I  imagine  P.  de  Brach,  unless  he  was  a  very  unpractical 
person,  began  to  work  on  a  clean  copy.  Mlle  de  Gournay  says,  "/e  pourrai 
appekr  a  temom  une  autre  copie  qui  rate  en  la  ma/sou  de  Montaigne?  which  is 
evKlentiy  the  Bordeaux  copy.  It  should  be  added  that  M.  Dezeimeris  has  noticed 
that  some  of  the  corrections  in  that  copy  are  in  the  hand  of  M11*  de  Gournav, 
writing  no  doubt  at  Montaigne's  dictation. 


XXI  MONTAIGNE 


i.- 


Montaigne's  peculiar  book.  "  I  add  but  I  do  not  correct,"  he 
says  in  the  Essay  On  Vanity  (ill.  9),  and  this  is  true  of  the 
ideas,  if  not  of  the  language.  It  was  even  true  to  a  great 
extent  of  the  language  at  the  time  the  words  were  written,  for 
it  was  not  till  after  the  publication  of  the  1588  edition  that 
Montaigne  began  to  concern  himself  with  minute  details  of 
style,  even  with  orthography  and  punctuation1.  This  practice 
adds  considerably  to  the  reader's  difficulty  in  getting  to 
close  quarters  with  the  chameleon-like  nature  of  the  writer, 
and  necessitates  for  those  who  want  to  judge  him  fairly  a 
constant  comparison  of  the  different  editions  of  his  book. 
Even  Montaigne  himself  complained  in  the  1588  edition  that 
his  readers  did  not  always  understand  him  aright.  Yet  he 
went  on  adding  to  the  difficulty  by  fresh  interpolations,  or  as 
he  calls  them,  emblemes  supemumeraires,  which  had  eventually 
to  be  published  without  his  final  revision'-. 

From  the  foregoing  account  of  the  growth  of  Montaigne's 
book  it  will  have  appeared  that  the  design  of  making  himself 
the  subject  of  it  arose  gradually  in  his  mind,  and  that  although 
by  the  time  he  had  finished  his  First  and  Second  books  it  was 
fully  matured,  it  cannot  be  said  to  have  borne  much  fruit 
until  the  appearance  of  the  Third  book  and  the  additions 
made  to  the  earlier  ones.  Whether  this  design  was,  as 
Montaigne  himself  suggests,  farouche  et  extravagant,  or,  as 
Pascal  says,  un  sot  projet,  it  was  at  any  rate  a  highly  original 
one:\  And  the  form  which  he  gave  to  his  design  was  equally 
original.  He  did  not,  as  so  many  of  his  contemporaries  did, 
write  an  autobiographical  history.  He  had,  as  he  tells  us,  a 
poor  memory,  and  his  object  was  truth.  Moreover  he  could 
not   "keep    a  register   of  his   life  by  his  actions,  for  fortune 

1  Je  ne  me  mesh,  ny  d '  orthographe,  et  ordonnt  settlement  qtCih  suivtnt  ran 
ny  de  la  ponctuation:  je  nth  pen  expert  en  run  et  en  /'autre  (ill.  9).      Bui  in  the 
Bordeaux  copy  he  gives  minute  directions  about  spelling  and  punctuation  to 
printer. 

-  See  Champion,  pp.  276  If. 

3  Pasquier's  suggestion  that  Montaigne's  book  would  have  been  impro> 
leaving  out  all  that  relates  to  himself  is  like  saying  that  Shakespeare's  h 
would  be  better  without   Hamlet. 


,;S  MONTAIGNE  [CH. 

placed  them  too  low;  he  therefore  kept  it  by  his  fancies1";  he 
recorded  his  fancies  and  his  impressions,  just  as  they  presented 
themselves  to  his  mind,  not  only  with  regard  to  external 
events,  but  with  regard  to  his  own  character.  If  any  circum- 
stances  in  his  past  life  had  made  a  lasting  impression  upon 
him  he  noted  them  in  his  book,  not  as  fragments  of  past 
history,  but  as  permanent  acquisitions  to  his  store  of  mental 
or  spiritual  experience,  and  not  in  any  chronological  or  other 
order  by  sequence,  but  just  as  they  occurred  to  his  '  vagabond  ' 

fancy2. 

The  value  of  an  autobiographical  portrait  depends  largely 
upon  the  good  faith  and  the  skill  of  the  painter.  Cest  mi 
livre  de  bonne  foi,  lecteur.  Even  those  who  have  taken  the 
most  unfavourable  view  of  Montaigne's  character  have  no 
doubt  as  to  his  honesty  and  sincerity^.  Most  students  of  his 
book  will  echo  Emerson's  remark  that  "the  opinion  of  an 
invincible  probity  grows  into  every  reader's  mind."  This  is  the 
character  that  he  bore  with  his  contemporaries.  Moreover 
the  very  fact  that  he  does  not  attempt  to  give  us  a  finished 
portrait  makes  us  all  the  more  ready  to  believe  in  its  sub- 
stantial truth.  "  Though  the  features  of  my  portrait  change 
and  alter,  they  go  not  altogether  astray.... I  do  not  paint  the 
whole  being,  but  a  passing  state  ;  not  merely  a  passing  from 
one  age  to  another... but  from  day  to  day,  from  minute  to 
minute.... Whether  it  be  that  I  am  another  man,  or  that  I  take 
hold  of  the  subjects  in  other  circumstances,  and  from  other 
points  of  view,  the  fact  is,  that  though  I  contradict  myself  at 

1  At  the  beginning  of  the  essay  On  Vanity  (in.  9),  the  most  autobiographical 
of  all  the  Essays 

-  M.  Champion  in  objecting  that  if  Montaigne  had  really  wanted  to  paint 
himself  he  would  have  written  a  complete  history  of  his  life  {Introduction  aux 
Essais,  pp.  56  ff.)  seems  to  lose  sight  of  his  peculiar  method. 

3  Montaigne  n' a  rien  ecrit  qui  fit t  vrai  ni  qui  lui  fit  plus  dlionneur  que  la 
premiere  ligne  de  ses  Essais  :  "  Cest  ici  un  livre  de  bonne  foi."  G.  Guizot,  p.  42. 
Rousseau  however  in  the  first  draft  of  the  opening  of  his  Confessions  took  a  different 
view,  saying,  "  Je  tnets  Montaigne  a  la  tete  de  ces  faux  sinceres  qui  veulent  tromper 
en  disant  vrai.  II  se  montre.  avec  des  defauts,  mais  ilne  s'en  donne  que  d'aimablcs: 
il  ny  a  point  dliomme  qui  n'en  ait  odieux.  Montaigne  se  peitit  ressemblant.  mais 
de  profir  (quoted  by  Sainte-Beuve,  Causeries  du  Lundi,  in.  80).  As  Desjardins 
says,  On  traite  quelquefois  avec  bien  de  la  durete  ceux  qu'on  imite. 


XXI]  .MONTAIGNE  rrg 

random,  I  do  not  contradict  the  Truth1."  And  in  another 
place  he  says,  "  I  give  my  mind  sometimes  one  face,  and 
sometimes  another,  according  to  the  side  on  which  I  turn  it. 
If  I  speak  of  myself  in  different  terms,  it  is  that  I  am  looking 
at  myself  in  a  different  light2." 

Fortunately  we  can  place  beside  the  portrait  of  the  Essays 
a  sketch  which  is  not  open  to  the  charge  of  having  been  drawn 
for  the  world's  inspection.  The  journal  of  Montaigne's  travels 
was  evidently  written  only  for  his  own  eyes  and  those  of  his 
family,  and  is  therefore  subject  to  no  deductions  either  on  the 
score  of  personal  or  of  literary  vanity.  One  third  of  it  is 
written  by  a  servant,  another  third  in  bad  Italian,  and  only 
the  remaining  third  by  Montaigne  himself  in  French.  The 
general  impression  that  we  get  from  it  is  that  he  was  a  man 
of  keen  and  active  intelligence,  always  on  the  look-out  for 
information,  especially  interested  in  comparing  the  social 
phenomena  of  different  countries,  unprejudiced  and  tolerant 
to  a  remarkable  degree,  quick  in  temper,  kindly,  not  a  little 
vain,  somewhat  egotistic,  and  possibly  a  little  too  fond  of 
having  his  own  way.  Surely  this  character  does  not  differ  in 
its  broad  outlines  from  that  presented  to  us  in  the  Essays. 

But  while  we  accept  Montaigne's  statements  that  '  his 
book  is  one  of  good  faith '  and  that  '  he  has  brought  to  it  the 
most  sincere  and  complete  accuracy3,'  it  does  not  follow  that 
we  should  take  everything  he  says  quite  au  pied  de  la  lettre*. 
Some  allowance  must  be  made  for  the  element  of  vanity  in 
his  character,  some  for  the  fact  that,  partly  from  irony,  partly 
from  what  M.  Faguet  happily  calls  gasconnade  a  reborns,  he 
has  a  tendency  to  exaggerate  his  defects;  some  for  his 
propensity  to  indulge  in  boutades,  or  humorous  and  almost 
paradoxical  sallies;  and  perhaps  most  of  all  for  his  strong 
artistic  temperament.  Had  those  critics  who  have  judged 
him  most  hardly,  Pascal  and  Guillaume  Guizot,  and  in  a  far 
less  degree  Dean  Church,  united  to  their  close  familiarity 
with    the  Essays  a   better  knowledge  of  his  life   and   times, 

i  in.  2.  "  ii.  i  (added  in  1588). 

3  La  fidclite . .  .la plus  sincere  el  pure  qui  se  troiirc,  ill.  1. 

4  See  Bayle  St  John,  11.  322. 


l6o  MONTAIGNE  [CH. 

they  might  have  formed  a  more  favourable  estimate  of  his 
character. 

On  the  whole  then,  though  the  portrait  which  Montaigne 
has  drawn  with  such  deliberation  cannot  be  accepted  as 
absolutely  as  the  unconscious  testimony  of  a  Cellini  or  a 
Pepys,  a  Cicero  or  a  Mme  de  Sevigne,  it  is  true  in  its  main 
features.  And  it  has  the  great  advantage  over  all  those 
famous  self-revelations,  even  over  that  of  Pepys,  that  being 
deliberate  it  goes  far  more  into  detail.  It  is  the  literal  truth 
that  no  document  of  equal  importance  for  the  study  of 
human  nature  had  ever  before  been  given  to  the  world.  It 
may  even  compare  with  the  series  of  documents  on  the  same 
subject  which  the  great  English  dramatist  was  on  the  eve  of 
producing,  and  in  the  production  of  some  of  which  he  was 
certainly  stimulated  by  the  Essays1.  For  Montaigne's  por- 
trayal of  himself  was  not  the  result  of  mere  egotism,  or  of 
an  uncontrollable  yearning  for  the  sympathy  of  his  fellow- 
creatures  ;  it  was  a  deliberately  planned  contribution  to  the 
study  of  man.  Chasque  hotnme  parte  la  forme  entiere  de 
Vhutnaine  condition'1.  Living,  as  he  did,  chiefly  in  the  retire- 
ment of  his  chateau,  he  had  no  wide  experience  of  mankind  at 
first  hand  ;  he  knew  men  chiefly  from  books,  from  Plutarch 
and  his  favourite  historians.  One  man  alone  he  knew  well, 
and  that  was  himself.  Moreover  he  believed  himself  to  be  an 
ordinary  typical  man,  not,  as  most  egotists  do,  a  unique 
specimen  of  humanity"'. 

His  interest  in  human  nature  was  too  deeply  implanted 
not  to  be  innate,  but  it  had  been  stimulated  and  cultivated 
by  intercourse  with  two  authors,  Seneca  and  Plutarch. 
"  I  have  had  no  intercourse  with  any  serious  author,  except 
Plutarch  and  Seneca,  from  whom  I  draw  like  the  daughters 

1  The  influence  of  Montaigne  on  Shakespeare  is  admirably  treated  by 
J.  M.  Robertson  in  his  Montaigne  and  Shakespeare,  1897.  He  shews  that  traces 
of  Shakespeare's  reading  of  Florio's  translation  (published  1603)  first  appear  in 
the  Second  Quarto  of  Hamlet  (1604)  and  are  especially  noticeable  in  that  play 
and  in  Measure  for  Measure.  See  also  G.  Brandes,  William  Shakespeare  (London, 
1896)  11.  226—235. 

2  ill.  2. 

:J  See  Doumic,  Etudes,  p.  70. 


XXI]  MONTAIGNE  I^I 

of  Danaus,  filling  and  pouring  out  incessantly1."  Of  their 
writings  he  preferred  Plutarch's  Moralia  and  Seneca's  Moral 
Letters.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  in  Seneca's  case  his 
choice  was  a  wise  one.  For  the  Moral  Letters  give  a  better 
idea  than  the  formal  treatises  of  his  subtle  insight  into 
human  nature,  and  of  his  skill  in  discussing  ethical  questions, 
while  the  informality  of  their  method  made  them  all  the  more 
attractive  to  Montaigne.  La  science  que  fy  cherche  y  est 
traictee  a  pieces  disconsues 2.  Moreover  Seneca's  ethics  were 
just  of  the  kind  to  find  favour  with  Montaigne.  They  may  be 
described  indeed  in  the  very  phrase  which  M.  Faguet  applies 
to  Montaigne's  ethical  creed,  as  nn  stoicisme  un  pat  attcndri. 
Not  only  Seneca's  position  as  a  powerful  minister,  but  his 
natural  sympathy  with  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  led 
him  to  soften  considerably  the  severity  of  the  Stoic  doctrine. 

But  on  the  whole  Montaigne  preferred  Plutarch.  Plutarque 
est  admirable partout,  mais  principalement  oil  iljuge  des  actions 
humaines  are  the  opening  words  of  his  Essay  On  Anger  (II.  31), 
a  subject  which  both  Seneca  and  Plutarch  had  treated,  and 
which  therefore  suggested  the  following  Essay,  A  defence  of 
Seneca  and  Plutarch.  As  we  have  seen,  it  was  in  the  year 
1572,  just  after  Montaigne  had  begun  to  write  his  Essays,  that 
Amyot's  translation  of  Plutarch's  Moralia  appeared.  We  have 
seen  too  how  warmly  Montaigne  acknowledged  his  debt  to  the 
work,  a  debt  greater  indeed  than  appears  at  first  sight,  for  he 
sometimes  incorporated  Amyot's  translation  with  hardly  the 
change  of  a  word  into  his  own  essays,  the  styles  of  the  two 
authors  blending  so  harmoniously  that  it  is  impossible  to  distin- 
guish them3.  Plutarch's  ethical  teaching  is  as  little  systematic 
and  as  little  rigid  as  Seneca's;  if  he  nominally  belonged  to  tin- 
Academy,  he  was  by  no  means  a  strict  disciple  of  that  school, 
for  he  revised  its  precepts  in  the  light  of  his  own  common  sense 
and  geniality.  For  two  reasons  he  must  have  appealed  to 
Montaigne  more  persuasively  than  Seneca.      First  there  is  no 

1  I.  25  (added  in  the  1588  ed.). 

2  11.  10.     Montaigne  also  borrowed  from  Senega's  other  writings ;  I. 

almost  bodily  from  his  De  beneficiis. 

3  See  A.  Delboulle  in  Rev.  cThist.  lit/.  II.  (1895)  004  ff. 

T.  II.  I  l 


l62 


MONTAIGNE  [CH. 


question  of  his  sincerity ;  he  lived  as  he  taught.  Secondly 
his  teaching  is  for  the  ordinary  individual  ;  he  deals  with  the 
everyday  ailments  of  the  human  heart,  rather  than  with  great 
crises  and  hidden  diseases;  he  is  the  family  doctor,  while 
Seneca  is  the  consulting  physician  \  "  Seneca,"  says  Montaigne, 
«  moves  and  inflames  you  more  ;  Plutarch  satisfies  you  more, 
and  repays  you  better  ;  Seneca  is  stimulating,  Plutarch  is  a 
guide."  It  was  doubtless  partly  owing  to  Plutarch's  guidance 
that  Montaigne  was  led  to  the  study  of  himself;  from  the 
same  teacher  he  may  have  learnt  to  identify  virtue  with 
happiness,  and  happiness  with  tranquillity2. 

But  whatever  stimulus  and  guidance  Montaigne  may  have 
derived  from  Seneca  and  Plutarch  he  was  too  independent  to 
be  the  disciple  of  either.  To  the  softened  Stoicism  of  the  one 
and  the  modified  Platonism  of  the  other  he  added  a  third 
element  in  the  shape  of  Epicureanism.  Yet  he  was  no 
Eclectic.  His  philosophy  of  life  was  primarily  for  his  own 
use,  and  not  for  that  of  the  world.  It  had  therefore  to  be 
moulded  to  meet  his  own  needs  and  his  own  character.  He 
and  his  book  grew  together.  But  regarding  himself  as  an 
average  man  he  believed  that  what  was  good  for  him  would  be 
good  also  for  other  men.  Religion  had  apparently  failed  as 
an  ethical  guide ;  it  had  made  men  superstitious  without 
making  them  moral.  He  would  endeavour,  not  indeed  to 
construct  a  complete  system  of  ethical  doctrine,  but  to  con- 
tribute a  few  suggestions  based  on  his  own  experience  and  on 
the  special  needs  of  the  age.  For  instance  two  conspicuous 
vices  of  the  age  were  cruelty  and  perfidy,  and  against  these 
he  raises  his  voice  in  unusual  accents  of  stern  and  uncom- 
promising severity3. 

1  See  O.  Greard,  De  la  7?i07-ale  de  Plutarque,  2nd  ed.  1874. 

2  Desjardins  Les  77ioralistes  francais  du  xvie  sieele,  pp.  83 — 102  points  out  that 
the  great  jurists  of  Montaigne's  day,  Cujas,  Doneau,  Dumoulin,  were  greatly 
influenced  by  the  Stoic  element  in  Roman  jurisprudence. 

3  See  II.  11,  De  la  cruante  (as  essay  which  is  of  great  importance  for  Montaigne's 
ethical  doctrines) ;  II.  17,  Quant  a  cette  nouvelle  vertu  de  faint isc  et  dissimulation, 
qui  est  a  cett '  heure  si  fort  en  credit,  je  la  hay  capitalement,  et  de  tons  les  vices,  je  n'en 
trouve  aucun  qui  tcsmoigne  tant  de  laschete  et  bassesse  de  caur;  II.  18  (Du 
desmentir),  Le premier  traict  de  la  corruption  des  mceurs,  c'est  le  bannissement  de  la 
verite.     See  also  Desjardins,  op.  cit.,  p.  259. 


XXI]  MONTAIGNE 


163 


But  in  considering    Montaigne's   moral    philosophy   it    is 
important  to  distinguish,  and   to  remember  that  he   himself 
distinguished,  between  the  promptings  of  his  imagination  and 
the  dictates  of  his  reason,  between  his  theories  and  his  practice. 
His  imagination  for  instance  approves  of  the  lofty  idealism  of 
martyrs  and  ascetics,  or  runs  riot  in  depicting  the  pleasures  of 
the  senses ;  but  in  practice  he  obeys  his  reason,  and  his  reason 
j  teaches  him  moderation  and  self-control1.     "For  my  part,  I 
love  life  and  cultivate  it  as  it  hath  pleased  God  to  grant  it  to 
me.... I  accept  cheerfully  and  gratefully  what  nature  has  done 
for    me,    and    am    pleased  with    it    and    proud    of   it.... Of 
philosophical  opinions  I   more  willingly  embrace  those  which 
are  the  most  solid,  that  is  to  say  the  most  human  and  the  most 
our  own.... Nature  is  a  gentle  guide,  yet  not  more  gentle  than 
she  is  prudent  and  just.     I  hunt  everywhere  for  her  trail  ;  we 
have  confounded  it  with  artificial  traces,  and  for  this  reason  the 
sovereign  good  of  the  Academics  and  the  Peripatetics,  which  is 
'  To  live  according  to  Nature,'  becomes  difficult  to  define  and 
explain.     So  with  that  of  the  Stoics,  which  is  akin  to  it,  and 
which  is  '  To  conform  to  Nature.'     Is  it  not  an  error  to  esteem 
certain  actions  less  worthy,  because  they  are  not  necessary? 
Yet    they    will    never    convince    me    that    the    marriage    of 
pleasure  with  necessity  is  not  a  most  suitable  one,  with  which, 
saith  an  ancient  writer,  the  gods  ever  conspire.... These  tran- 
scendent humours  terrify  me,  like  lofty  and  inaccessible  places, 
and  nothing  I  find  so  hard  to  digest  in  the  life  of  Socrates  as 

his    ecstasies   and    his    intercourse    with   daemons It    is    an 

absolute  perfection,  and  as  it  were  divine,  for  a  man  to  know 
how  to  enjoy  his  being  loyally.  We  seek  for  other  conditions, 
because  we  understand  not  the  use  of  our  own  ;  and  we 
out  of  ourselves  from  not  knowing  what  is  passing  within.... 
The  fairest  lives  to  my  mind  are  those  which  are  regulatepl 
after  the  ordinary  human  pattern,  without  miracle,  without 
extravagance."     This  is  the  conclusion  01'  the  Essays. 

It  is  characteristic  of  Montaigne's  idea  of  treating  man  in 

1  Cf.  Ruel,  op.  cit.  p.  412,  Montaigne  a  un  double  ideal,  un  idial  praHqtb 
du  moins  qu'il  vondrait  mettre  en  pratique,  et  un  autre,  artistique,  que  le  plus 
souvent  son  admiration  pour  Vantiquiti  fait  apparaitre  a  son  imagination. 


j64  MONTAIGNE  [CH. 

general  through  a  single  individual  that  his  views  on  education 
refer  chiefly  to  a  particular  case.  The  Essay  On  Pedantry 
(I.  24)  is  indeed  of  general  application,  but  the  longer  and 
more  important  one  On  the  Education  of  Children  (I.  25)  was 
written  for  the  benefit  of  the  expected  child  of  Mme  de  Gurson, 
who  like  the  rest  of  his  class — Montaigne  assumed  that  it 
would  be  a  boy — would  probably  take  up  the  profession  of 
arms  at  the  age  of  fifteen  or  sixteen.  This  limitation  to 
the  requirements  of  a  small  and  privileged  class  necessarily 
narrows  the  scope  of  Montaigne's  educational  views ;  but 
many  of  his  precepts  are  of  general  import,  and  his  central 
thought  that  the  object  of  education  is  character  and  not 
learning  is  the  true  basis  of  all  sound  education1.  For 
he  maintains  that  its  object  is  to  make  a  man  better2,  "to 
teach  him  self-knowledge,  how  to  die  well  and  to  live  well." 
The  body  should  be  exercised  as  well  as  the  mind3  and  the 
principal  lessons  of  the  mind  should  be  in  moral  philosophy. 
The  teacher  should  not  merely  burden  his  pupil's  memory 
but  should  stimulate  his  originality  and  inspire  him  with  an 
"  honest  curiosity  for  information  about  everything."  Educa- 
tion should  be  largely  practical  and  not  merely  from  books4. 
Foreign  travel  and  intercourse  with  men  are  therefore 
recommended,  and  intercourse  with  men  should  consist  chiefly 
of  an  acquaintance  with  the  great  men  of  history,  for  which 
purpose  there  can  be  no  better  introduction  than  Plutarch's 
Lives5.  This  crusade  against  mere  book-learning  and  this 
insistence  on  the  practical  side  of  education  lead  Montaigne 
sometimes  to  lose  his  balance,  as   when   in   the   latter   part 

1  See  F.  A.  Arnst'adt,  F.  Rabelais  und sein  Traite  a" Education,  pp.  16S — 242  ; 
G.  Schmid  in  K.  A.  Schmid,  Geschichte  der  Erziehung,  III.  i.  208- — 255,  Stuttgart, 
1892. 

2  Le  gain  de  notre  estude,  c'est  en  estre  devenu  meilleur  et  plus  sage  (I.  25). 

3  Ce  n'est  pas  une  ame,  ce  n'est  pas  u?i  corps,  qiion  dresse  ;  e'est  un  homme 
(id.).  So  Locke,  who  owed  a  good  deal  to  Montaigne,  heads  his  Thoughts  con- 
cerning education  with  Mens  sana  in  corpore  sano. 

4  //  ne  dira  pas  tant  sa  lecon  com  we  il  la  /era  (id.). 

5  It  is  interesting  to  compare  with  Montaigne's  views  those  expressed  by 
Du  Plessis-Mornay  in  a  letter  to  Louise  de  Coligny,  widow  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  for  the  benefit  of  her  son,  Frederick  Henry.  (In  E.  Reaume,  Morceaux 
choisis  des prosateurs  et  poetes  francais  du  xvie  siecle,  pp.  223  ff.) 


/ 

/ 


XXI]  MONTAIGNE 


I65 


of  the  Essay  On  Pedantry  he  praises  Spartan  education  at  the 
expense  of  Athenian,  and  even  goes  so  far  as  to  eulogise  the 
Turks  and  Tartars  and  other  unlettered  races.  A  youth,  even 
of  the  class  with  which  Montaigne  is  specially  concerned,  who 
was  brought  up  in  strict  accord  with  his  principles  would 
become  narrow  and  unimaginative;  his  practical  understanding 
would  be  developed  at  the  expense  of  his  higher  powers1. 

It  has  been  remarked  that  there  is  no  question  in 
this  Essay  of  religious  teaching2.  The  same  omission  is 
equally  noticeable  in  Montaigne's  whole  ethical  system. 
Whatever  his  debt  to  pagan  teachers,  he  owes  nothing,  at 
least  directly,  to  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Indeed  one 
Essay  at  least,  and  one  which  in  its  profound  knowledge  of 
human  nature  and  its  frank  sincerity  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  of  the  whole  book,  that  On  Repentance  (ill.  2), 
is  almost  anti-Christian  in  spirit.  Montaigne  believes  that  a 
man  is  born  with  certain  qualities  which  may  be  developed 
or  kept  in  check  by  education  and  self-discipline,  but  which 
cannot  be  wholly  changed.  We  may  repent  of  sins  foreign 
to  our  nature  which  we  commit  under  the  influence  of  sudden 
passion,  but  he  finds  it  difficult  to  believe  in  repentance 
for  those  sins  which  being  the  result  of  temperament  we 
commit  frequently  and  deliberately.  If  he  had  to  live  his 
own  life  over  again  he  would  live  as  he  had  lived.  All  this 
is  very  true  of  the  natural  man,  but  it  leaves  Christianity  out 
of  account.  And  that  briefly  represents  Montaigne's  attitude 
towards  the  Christian  religion.  "  He  admits  it  as  a  belief, 
but  he  puts  it  aside  as  a  moral  codeV  In  all  ages  this  attitude 
is  not  an  unusual  one  with  ordinary  men  of  the  world,  but  in 
Montaigne's  day  it  may  be  said  to  have  been  the  normal 
attitude  with  all  classes4.  We  have  seen  instances  of  it  in 
the  lives  of  Ronsard   and  Desportes  ;  it    colours   the    whole 

1  According  to  Coleridge  a  child's  memory  and  imagination  should  !><■  fire) 
cultivated,  because  they  are  first  awakened  by  nature,  but  the  judgment,  <>i  com- 
paring power,  ought  not  to  be  excited. 

2  Collins,  Montaigne,  p.  114. 

3  L.  Joubert  in  Nouv.  Biog.  Gin. 

4  Une  epoque  ou  croire  et  vivre  iiaient  deux  choses  distinctes  ct  indiptn 
A.  Vinet,  Moralistes,  p.  18. 


,66  MONTAIGNE  [CH. 

poetry  of  the  Pleiad  ;  and  it  reaches  its  culminating  height  in 
the  mixture  of  bloodthirstiness,  debauchery,  and  grotesque 
superstition  which  made  hideous  the  court  of  Henry  III. 

Naturally  a  man  so  clear-sighted  and  sincere  as  Mon- 
taigne was  not  wholly  blind  to  this  inconsistency,  and  in  the 
Essay  On  Prayers  (I.  56),  to  which  in  the  edition  of  1582 
he  prefixed  a  formal  profession  of  adherence  to  the  Catholic 
Church,  he  refers  to  the  well-known  story  of  the  Heptameron 
in  which  the  Queen  of  Navarre  relates  how  a  young  prince 
(Francis  I)  who  had  a  liaison  with  an  advocate's  wife  used  on 
his  return  from  visiting  her  to  pray  at  length  in  a  certain 
church1.  But  though  Montaigne's  eyes  were  open  to  the 
glaring  inconsistency  of  cases  like  this  he  never  applied  his 
common  sense  to  the  examination  of  his  own  attitude.  It 
was  this  breach  between  morality  and  religion  which  the 
religious  revival  in  France  set  itself  to  heal,  and  which  led 
the  Jesuits  to  accommodate  religion  to  the  morality  of  the 
man  of  the  world,  and  the  Jansenists  to  raise  ordinary  morality 
to  the  higher  standard  of  religion. 

We  are  now  in  a  better  position  for  attempting  an  answer 
to  the  question  as  to  the  extent  and  nature  of  Montaigne's 
scepticism.  But  it  may  first  be  noted  that  those  writers 
who  have  insisted  most  emphatically  on  the  thorough-going 
character  of  his  scepticism  cannot  be  said  to  have  approached 
the  subject  with  an  unbiassed  mind.  Some  have  been  over- 
anxious to  claim  him  as  a  champion  of  free  thought,  while 
others  have  shewn  a  similar  anxiety  to  repudiate  him  as  an 
enemy  to  the  Christian  religion2.  As  M.  Faguet  aptly 
remarks,  On  est  toujours  le  sceptiqne  de  qnelqiinn. 

The  true  starting-point  for  the  consideration  of  Mon- 
taigne's scepticism  is  the  recognition  of  the  fact  that  like  most 
intellectual  phenomena  of  the  Renaissance   it   has  its  origin 

1  Nouv.  xxv.  The  conversation  after  the  story  is  an  excellent  commentary  on 
Montaigne's  Essay  On  Repentance. 

'  Owen,  Skeptics  of  the  French  Renaissance,  speaks  of  him  as  '  a  genuine 
untiring  inquirer'  ;  Emerson  takes  him  as  the  type  of  a  sceptic;  for  Pascal  he 
is  'a  pure  Pyrrhonist'  ;  for  G.  Guizot  '  scepticism  is  the  heart  and  centre  of  the 
Essays.' 


XXI]  MONTAIGNE  1 67 

in  classical  literature.  In  the  year  1562  Henri  Estienne 
published  a  Latin  translation  of  Sextus  Empiricus,  practically 
the  only  Sceptic  writer  of  antiquity  whose  works  have  come 
down  to  us.  It  was  from  Sextus  that  Montaigne  derived  the 
Sceptic  formulas  with  which  he  adorned  the  joists  and  rafters 
of  his  library,  and  it  was  from  the  same  writer  that  he 
borrowed  freely  in  the  famous  Essay,  the  Apologie  de  Raymond 
de  Sebonde  (I.  12),  in  which  his  sceptical  views  are  stated  with 
the  greatest  completeness. 

Montaigne  tells  us  that  two  classes  of  objectors  had  found 
fault  with  Sebonde's  book,  the  orthodox  because  it  was  useless, 
for  Christianity  can  only  be  apprehended  by  faith,  the  un- 
believers because  its  arguments  were  feeble  and  inadequate. 
Both  objections  Montaigne  meets  in  his  usual  original  fashion. 
The  first,  he  admits,  would  hold  good  if  we  had  a  real  living 
faith  in  Christianity  ;  but  "  we  are  Christians  only  by  the 
same  title  as  we  are  Germans  or  inhabitants  of  Perigord1." 
The  second  class  of  objectors  are  "  more  dangerous  and  more 
malicious"  ;  they  must  be  handled  a  little  more  roughly.  As 
they  presume  to  attack  a  divine  religion  with  purely  human 
weapons  the  best  way  of  meeting  them  is  to  convince  them 
of  the  "  emptiness,  the  vanity,  the  miserable  condition  of 
Man."  This  of  course,  as  Montaigne  sees  quite  well,  is  to 
abandon  the  defence  of  Sebonde,  for  the  object  of  his  book 
was  to  prove  Christianity  by  '  reason  and  argument.'  Hut 
Montaigne  is  evidently  not  at  all  concerned  about  Sebonde  ; 
so  leaving  him  to  take  care  of  himself  he  embarks  on  a  long 
discourse  on  the  vanity  of  natural  man  "deprived  of  grace 
and  divine  knowledge2."  After  comparing  him,  not  to  his 
advantage,  with  beasts,  he  declares  that  his  greatest  mis- 
fortune is  his  so-called  knowledge.  It  is  better  to  be  ignoranl 
than  to  pretend  to  know  ;  even  philosophers  have  arrived  at 
no  result.  Man's  conception  of  God  is  a  purely  anthropo- 
morphic one,  based  on  the  idea  that  man  is  the  centre  (-1  the 

1  This  sentence  was  added  in  1588  ;  the  whole  chapter  is  about  a  third  longH 
in  this  edition  fhan  it  was  in  that  of  1580. 

2  On  the  other  hand  Montaigne's  ethical  views  arc  based  on  a  high  estimate  of 
human  nature.     Vir'"e,  he  says,  is  easy  and  pleasant.     (1.  19,  25.) 


l6$  MONTAIGNE  [CH. 

universe.  Our  knowledge  of  human  affairs  is  no  greater  than 
our  knowledge  of  God,  and  we  are  equally  ignorant  of  our 
own  souls.  Not  only  philosophers  differ,  but  individual 
opinion  is  always  changing.  Public  opinion  is  equally  un- 
stable. Man  does  not  even  know  what  he  wants.  Our  very 
senses  are  untrustworthy.  The  conclusion  is  that  human 
nature  of  itself  is  abject  and  vile,  and  that  Man's  only  chance 
of  elevation  above  his  vile  nature  lies  in  the  Christian  faith. 
The  second  part  of  this  proposition  is  stated  very  briefly, 
and  it  has  already  been  invalidated  by  Montaigne's  previous 
declaration  that  true  Christian  faith  does  not  exist. 

Those  writers  who  take  Montaigne's  scepticism  most 
seriously  point  out  that  this  Essay  is  by  far  the  longest  in  his 
book,  and  therefore,  they  add,  the  most  important.  I  doubt 
the  correctness  of  this  inference.  There  is  much  in  the  Essay 
that  is  paradoxical  and  not  a  little  that  is  puerile.  A  good 
deal  is  borrowed  from  Sextus  Empiricus  and  Diogenes 
Laertius,  from  Cicero  and  Plutarch.  Its  unusual  length  may 
be  accounted  for  partly  by  the  fact  that  it  is  addressed  to 
some  great  person1,  partly  by  the  literary  vanity  natural  to 
an  author  who  having  mounted  his  favourite  hobby-horse  is 
anxious  to  shew  off  its  paces  to  the  best  advantage.  The 
Apology,  in  fact,  is  best  described  in  the  words  of  M.  Stapfer 
as  a  pendant  to  the  Essay  On  some  lives  of  Virgil  (ill.  5  )2,  that 
other  debauch  of  Montaigne's  reason.  For  in  its  sweeping 
scepticism  it  goes  far  beyond  any  modern  philosopher,  not 
excepting  Hume.  Yet  the  man  who  heaped  paradox  on 
paradox  to  prove  the  vileness  of  man,  who  declared  that  the 
best  man  deserved  hanging  ten  times  in  his  life3,  was  an 
ardent  admirer  of  Socrates  and  Epaminondas  and  Scipio. 
Even  in  his  own,  as  it  seemed  to  him,  degenerate    age,   he 

1  Vous,  pour  qui  fay  pris  la  peine  destendre  un  si  long  corps,  contre  ma  cousin  me, 
and  Vous,  qui  par  fauthorite  que  vostre  grandeur  vous  apporle . .  .pouvez  dun  din 
d'wil  commander  d  qui  il  vous  plaist.  There  is  an  old  tradition  that  the  pe>.  ,n 
addressed  was  Margaret  of  Valois,  wife  of  Henry  IV.  (See  note  by  J.  V  Leclerc 
in  his  edition.) 

2  Montaigne,  p.  8r. 

•J  111.  9.  Cf.  Shakespeare's  "Use  every  man  after  his  desert,  'tnd  who  should 
'scape  whipping?" 


XXI]  MONTAIGNE  169 

could  admire  L'Hospital  and  La  Noue  and  his  friend  La 
Boetie,  of  whom  and  of  friendship  generally  he  writes  in  terms 
that  are  almost  transcendental.  So  far  from  conforming  to 
custom,  like  a  true  sceptic,  as  the  only  possible  moral  law,  he 
hated  every  kind  of  cruelty,  and  protested  against  duelling  as 
a  barbarous  and  irrational  practice.  He  also  believed  firmly 
in  the  existence  of  a  beneficent  and  all-directing  God. 

But  we  must  not  push  this  line  of  argument  too  far.  That 
Montaigne  had  a  good  share  of  what  Hume  calls  '  mitigated 
scepticism  '  there  can  be  no  doubt.  New  discoveries,  a  new 
world,  a  new  solar  system,  had  impressed  upon  him  the 
instability  of  human  knowledge.  The  condition  of  his 
unhappy  country,  torn  with  civil  war,  bankrupt  in  money 
and  credit,  contemptible  in  the  eyes  of  other  nations,  had  led 
him  to  take  a  low  estimate  of  human  virtue.  If  his  scepticism 
was  "corrected  by  common  sense  and  reflection1,''  if  it  was 
warmed  by  the  impulses  of  a  rich  and  imaginative  nature,  it 
was  still  there,  indolent,  unsystematic,  paradoxical,  but  coming 
to  his  contemporaries  with  the  charm  of  novelty,  and  charming 
them  all  the  more  by  its  very  defects.  For  it  was  not  so 
much  the  rhetorical  fireworks  of  a  set  piece  like  the  Apology 
which  appealed  to  them  as  the  general  tone  and  character  of 
Montaigne's  mind,  his  hatred  of  dogmatism,  his  habit  of 
bringing  all  questions,  even  scepticism  itself,  before  the  bar  of 
common  sense  and  daily  experience2.  The  Latin  treatise  of 
Cornelius  Agrippa  On  the  incertitude  and  vanity  of  learning 
had  only  appealed  to  a  small  audience3.  But  now  while  men 
still  more  or  less  believed  in  that  theme  upon  which  Pico  della 
Mirandola  had  nearly  a  century  ago  discoursed  so  eloquently, 
the  dignity  of  Man,  there  came  one  who  told  them  in  language 
which  they  could  all  understand  that  Man  was  vile  and  that 


1  "There  is  indeed  a  mitigated  scepticism... which  may  be  both  durable  and 
useful  and  which  may  in  part  be  the  result  of  this  Pyrrhonism  ores  |  ititism, 
when  its  undistinguished  doubts  are,  in  some  measure,  corrected  by  common  Bense 
and  reflection."     Hume,  Works,  IV.   187. 

2  See  W.  E.  H.  Lecky,  Rationalism  in  Enrop,-  (ed.  of  [88a),  t.  03  ff.  I  here 
is  a  just  and  sensible  account  of  Montaigne's  scepticism  in  Lanusse,  pp.  i.;i  E 

3  It  was  translated  by  Louis  Turquet  in  1582. 


I/O 


MONTAIGNE  [CH. 


much  of  his  pretended  knowledge  was  a  sham.      It  was  like 
the  pleasant  shock  of  a  cold  douche. 

This  altered  estimate  of  Man  and  his  works  may  possibly 
have  had  its  origin  in  the  Copernican  theory  of  the  solar 
system.  If  our  planet  is  not  the  centre  of  the  Universe,  what 
becomes  of  the  microcosm,  Man  ?  Other  planets  may  be 
inhabited  by  beings  infinitely  greater  in  knowledge  and 
virtue.  Further  it  may  be  noticed  with  less  of  conjecture  that 
Montaigne's  scepticism  is  a  natural  developement  of  that 
spirit  of  free  inquiry  which  was  the  motive  power  of  the 
Renaissance.  While  in  Rabelais  this  spirit  inspired  a  hopeful 
desire  to  make  the  world  better  and  wiser,  in  Montaigne  it 
tended  to  drapa^ua,  to  a  resigned  conservatism  alike  in  ethics, 
politics,  and  religion. 

Le  sceptiqite  est  celui  qui  tie  croit  pas  a  la  science  et  qui  croit 

a  lui-mime Le  douteur  est  le  vrai  savant :  il  ne  doute  que  de 

lui-meme  et  de  ses  interpretations,  mats  il  croit  a  la  science.  So 
said  one  of  the  greatest  of  modern  men  of  science1.  In 
Montaigne's  day  science  was  in  its  infancy,  and  for  science  in 
the  strict  sense  he  had  no  aptitude.  He  was  neither  a  Pare 
nor  a  Palissy.  But  in  his  own  field,  the  study  of  human 
nature,  his  method  was  almost  scientific.  He  doubted  that  he 
might  know,  and  he  based  his  knowledge  on  investigation  and 
experiment.  His  laboratory  was  his  own  mind  ;  he  entered 
it  as  free  from  bias  as  is  humanly  possible,  and  he  stated  his 
results  with  an  astonishing  candour  and  sincerity.  And  it  is 
this  better  side  of  his  scepticism  which  bore  the  fairest  fruit 
in  the  immediate  future.  The  free-thinkers  of  the  first  half  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  Des  Barreaux  and  Theophile  de 
Viau,  La  Mothe  le  Vayer  and  Saint-Evremond,  who  found  in 
Montaigne  an  incentive  to  self-indulgence  and  intellectual 
dilettanteism,  are  of  far  less  importance  than  Pascal,  who 
borrowed  from  his  sceptical  armoury  weapons  for  the  defence 
of  revealed  religion,  or  than  Descartes,  who  built  upon  the 
basis  of  doubt  a  complete  metaphysical  system2. 

1  Claude  Bernard,  Introduction  a  F etude  de  la  niMecine  expert men tale. 
There    is    a    good    and   sensible    account    of    Montaigne's    philosophy   by 
L.   E.  Kastner  in  the  Modern  Language  Quarterly  for  April,    1902. 


XXI]  MONTAIGNE  171 

There  is  one  point  on  which  censors  and  admirers  of 
Montaigne  are  alike  agreed,  and  that  is  the  splendour  of  his 
style.  On  this  subject  it  is  perhaps  his  severest  critics  who 
have  expressed  themselves  with  the  most  unqualified  approval, 
as  if  their  severity  was  partly  due  to  a  determination  not  to 
allow  their  reason  to  be  led  captive  by  his  genius.  It  is 
Pascal  who  speaks  of"  the  incomparable  author  of  The  Art  of 
Conversation" :  it  is  Guillaume  Guizot  who  says  that  "he  is 
the  most  complete  "  of  French  writers,  and  that  "  his  resources 
of  style  are  infinite." 

In  the  translation  of  Sebonde's  Natural  Theology  Montaigne 
had  sh§wn  that  he  could  handle  a  difficult  subject  in  a  style 
remarkable  for  simplicity  and  extreme  clearness.  But  the 
style  is  quite  unadorned  and  has  no  individuality.  For  the 
true  Montaigne  we  must  go  to  the  dedicatory  letter  to  his 
father  which  stands  at  the  head  of  his  translation,  or  to  the 
long  letter  in  which  he  gives  him  an  account  of  La  Boetie's 
illness  and  death,  or  to  the  dedications  which  he  prefixed  to 
each  group  of  La  Boetie's  works.  Thus  when  he  began  to  write 
the  Essays  he  was  already  in  possession  of  an  admirable  style, 
subtle  and  supple,  fitting  the  thought  as  a  glove  fits  the  hand. 
If  in  the  earliest  essays  it  is  still  somewhat  cold  and  colourless, 
this  fault  is  soon  mended,  and  before  long  Montaigne  handles 
his  instrument  with  perfect  ease  and  assurance.  The  passage 
in  which  he  describes  his  favourite  style  will  serve  as  a 
specimen  of  his  own  : 

Le  parler  que  i'ayme,  e'est  vn  parler  simple  et  naif,  tel  sur  le  papier 
qu'a.  la  bouche  :  vn  parler  succulent  et  nerueux,  court  et  serrc,  plutost 
difficile  qu'ennuieux,  esloigne  d'affectation  et  d'artifice :  desregle*, 
cousu  et  hardy  :  chaque  lopin  y  face  son  corps  :  non  pedantesque,  non 
fratresque,  non  pleideresque,  mais  plutost  soldatesque,  comme  Suetone 
appelle  celuy  de  Julius  Caesar1. 

Tel  sur  le  papier  qua  la  bouche.  That  is  not  an  inapt 
description  of  Montaigne's  own  style,  of  which  Emerson  says, 
"I  know  not  anywhere  the  book  that  seems  less  written.  It 
is  the  language  of  conversation  transferred  to  a  b"<>k." 
Montaigne  would  have  relished  that  remark,  for  as  we  have 

1  1.  25  (text  of  1580).     The  passage  was  somewhat  altered  in  the  ed.  "t  [588. 


i;- 


MONTAIGNE  [CH. 


seen  he  says  of  himself,  "Je  stiis  moins  faiseur  de  livres  que  de 
nulle  autre  besogne."  But  he  deceived  himself.  If  his  book 
seems  to  be  spoken  rather  than  written,  this  is  the  result  of  a 
deliberate  intention,  of  an  elaborate  art.  The  favourite  style 
of  the  day,  formed  as  it  was  on  Latin  models,  had  something 
artificial  in  it.  Montaigne  determined  to  be  sincere  even  in  his 
style.  His  style  should  be  a  reflexion  of  his  own  downright, 
brusque  and  impulsive  nature.  It  should  imitate  the  natural 
eloquence  of  a  good  talker  who  never  hesitates  for  the  right 
word.  That  is  the  reason  why  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to 
follow  his  meaning.  As  he  admits  himself,  he  passes  from 
one  subject  to  another,  as  in  conversation,  without  any  con- 
necting words,  sans  I'entrelasser  de  parolles,  de  liaison,  et  de 
cousture,  introduictes  pour  le  service  des  oreilles  foibles,  ou 
nonchallantes1.  Another  cause  of  his  obscurity,  at  least  to  the 
inattentive  readers  of  whom  he  complains,  is  his  love  of 
digressions.  O  Dieu  !  que  ces  gaillardes  escapades-,  he  says  of 
Plutarch,  and  it  is  equally  true  of  himself.  He  wrote  in  much 
the  same  way  as  he  travelled,  having  indeed  a  fixed  goal,  but 
reaching  it  only  after  many  deviations  from  the  straight 
course.  The  Essay  On  Coaches  (ill.  6)  will  furnish  a  good 
example  of  his  method.  It  is  not  long,  especially  in  the 
edition  of  1588. 

It  is  obvious,  he  begins,  that  great  writers  are  wont  to  give 
several  reasons  for  things  besides  the  one  which  they  believe 
to  be  the  true  one.  For  instance,  what  is  the  reason  for 
blessing  people  when  they  sneeze  ?  What  is  the  cause  of  sea- 
sickness ?  He  believes  he  has  read  in  Plutarch  that  it  is  due 
to  fear.  This  he  doubts  from  his  own  experience,  for  though 
he  is  often  sea-sick  he  is  never  in  any  fear  at  sea.  Here 
follows  a  digression  on  the  nature  of  fear.  Riding  in  a  coach 
or  litter,  especially  a  coach,  affects  him  in  the  same  way  as 
being  on  board  ship.  Mark  Antony  was  the  first  Roman  to 
drive  lions  in  a  coach,  and  Elagabalus  drove  even  stranger 
teams.  The  mention  of  these  inventions  suggests  another 
observation,  namely  that  excessive  expenditure  shews  weak- 
ness in  a  monarch.  This  leads  to  a  somewhat  long  discussion 
1  in-  9-  2  ib. 


XXI]  MONTAIGNE  173 

on  the  difference  between  extravagance  and  true  liberality  in 
princes,  followed  by  an  account  of  the  Roman  Amphitheatre, 
chiefly  taken  from  the  Seventh  Eclogue  of  Calpurnius. 
Compared  with  the  ancient  world,  our  modern  world  shows 
signs  of  decrepitude  and  exhaustion.  But  a  new  and  infant 
world,  in  no  way  inferior  to  ours  in  magnificence,  has  been 
recently  discovered.  This  leads  to  a  most  eloquent  description 
of  the  conquest  of  Peru  and  Mexico,  full  of  sympathy  for  the 
conquered,  and  of  indignation  at  the  cruelty  of  the  conquerors. 
Retombons  a  nos  coches.  In  Peru  they  do  not  use  coaches,  but 
litters.  The  last  king  of  Peru  was  being  carried  in  a  litter 
when  he  was  captured  in  battle. 

The  central  thought  of  this  Essay  is  apparently  the 
reprobation  of  extravagant  pomp  and  magnificence,  which 
suggests  a  comparison  between  the  ancient  world  and  the  new 
world  of  Mexico  and  Peru  in  the  matter  of  magnificence.  But 
it  looks  as  if  the  whole  train  of  thought  had  been  set  in 
motion  by  the  stories  of  the  strange  teams  which  Mark 
Antony  and  Elagabalus  harnessed  to  their  coaches.  Hence 
the  title  of  the  Essay,  and  hence  Montaigne,  with  true  artistic 
instinct,  returns  before  its  close  to  the  motive  from  which  he 
had  set  out1. 

The  above  is  a  summary  of  the  Essay  as  it  appeared  in 
1588  ;  in  the  text  of  1595  there  are  several  additions.  In  this 
case  they  do  not  interfere  with  the  thread  of  the  argument  ; 
but  in  many  of  the  Essays  the  later  additions,  which  of  course 
formed  no  part  of  the  original  plan,  give  them  a  more  discon- 
nected and  desultory  air  than  they  have  in  the  text  of  1 588, 
or  than  they  would  probably  have  had  if  Montaigne  had 
definitely  revised  his  text. 

In  one  respect  as  his  work  progressed  he  introduced  .1 
decided  improvement  in  its  literary  form  ;  he  made  his 
sentences  shorter.  We  have  seen  that  the  besetting  sin  ol 
sixteenth  century  prose  is  the  unwieldy  length  of  the  senten<  e, 

1  M.  Stapfer  and  M.  Ruel  have  also  selected  this  Essay  as  an  example  of 
Montaigne's  method,  and  Ruel  gives  an  admirable  analysis  of  it.  (See  Stapfer, 
Montaigne,  p.  127  ;  Ruel,  op.  cit.  374  ff.)     My  balder  summary  originally  app 

in  Macmillan's  Magazine,  1890. 


i;4  MONTAIGNE  [CH. 

and  in  the  ordinary  text  of  the  Essays  there  are  plenty  of  long 
sentences,  some  indeed  of  quite  remarkable  length.  But  this 
is  in  a  large  measure  due  to  the  system  of  punctuation 
adopted  by  Naigeon  in  his  edition  of  1802,  which  is  not 
Montaigne's  any  more  than  the  orthography,  but  which  sub- 
sequent editors  blindly  followed.  In  the  reformed  text  of 
MM.  Courbet  and  Royer  the  numerous  colons  and  semi-colons 
are  replaced  by  full-stops1.  This  is  in  accordance  with  a 
direction  given  by  Montaigne  to  his  printer.  Cest  un  langage 
coupe" >  qu'il  ny  espargne  les  poinds  et  lettres  majuscules2.  But  it 
is  not  merely  a  question  of  punctuation.  Though  from  the 
first  Montaigne,  with  his  true  artistic  instinct,  often  relieved 
his  long  sentences  by  short  ones,  his  tendency  as  his  style 
developed  was  to  make  all  his  sentences  shorter. 

It  is  remarkable  that  Estienne  Pasquier  notes  as  a  special 
feature  of  the  Essays  that  it  is  un  vrai  seminaire  de  belles  et 
notables  sentences.  He  then  proceeds  to  quote  eighteen  which 
La  Rochefoucauld  might  have  envied.  Yet  he  omits  many  of 
the  most  striking,  such  as  :  Tout  abrege  sur  un  bon  livre  est 
un  sot  abrege ;  Touts  jugemens  e7i  gros  sont  lasches  et  im- 
parfaicts  ;  La  plus  grande  chose  du  monde  cest  de  savoir  estre 
a  soy  ;  En  nostre  langage  je  trouve  assez  destoffe,  mats  un  pen 
fan  lie  de  /aeon3. 

Next  to  the  realism  or  impressionism — whichever  you  like 
to  call  it — of  Montaigne's  style  its  most  remarkable  feature  is 
its  imaginative  character.  Metaphor  succeeds  metaphor  in 
careless  profusion.  The  following  passage  is  a  good  illus- 
tration of  this  quality : 

A  qui  n'a  dresse  en  gros  sa  vie  a  une  certaine  fin,  il  est  impossible  de 
disposer  les  actions  particulieres.  II  est  impossible  de  renger  ses  pieces, 
a.  qui  n'a  une  forme  du  total  en  sa  teste.  A  quoy  faire  la  provision  des 
couleurs,  a  qui  ne  scait  ce  qu'il  a  a  peindre?  Aucun  ne  fait  certain 
dessein  de  sa  vie,  et  n'en  deliberons  qu'a  parcelles.  L'archer  doit 
premierement  scavoir  oil  il  vise,  et  puis  y  accomoder  la  main,  l'arc,  la 

1  A  good  instance  will  be  found  in  the  Essay  On  Coaches  in  the  passage 
beginning,  La  liberality  mesme  n'est  pas  Men. 
-  Bordeaux  MS  (Courbet  and  Royer,  V.  4). 
■'  -Montaigne's  apophthegms  are  noticed  by  Villemain,  Eloge,  p.  25. 


XXI]  MONTAIGNE 


175 


corde,  la  flesche,  et  les  mouvemens.  Nos  conseils  fourvoyent,  par  ce 
qu'ils  n'ont  pas  d'adresse  et  de  but.  Nul  vent  fait  pour  celuy  qui  n'a 
point  de  port  destine*1. 

Nor  is  it  merely  in  the  use  of  metaphor  that  Montaigne's 
imagination  reveals  itself;  he  is  fond  of  picturesque  words, 
words  which  call  up  a  sensuous  image,  and  in  which  the 
French  language  of  the  sixteenth  century  was  particularly 
rich.  It  is  with  justice  that  the  chapter  in  which  Malebranche 
criticises  Montaigne  is  entitled  '  On  the  Imagination'  and  one 
can  understand  Montesquieu's  meaning  when  he  speaks  of 
him  as  '  one  of  the  four  great  poets2.'  Sainte-Beuve  rightly 
compares  him  with  Ovid  and  Ariosto,  for  it  is  in  liveliness  and 
rapidity  rather  than  in  concentrated  power  that  his  imagi- 
nation excels.  Occasionally,  however,  as  in  the  well-known 
description  of  the  death-chamber,  to  which  I  have  already 
referred,  he  can  paint  in  a  few  words  a  complete  and  striking 
picture  : 

Je  croy  a  la  verite  que  ce  sont  ces  mines  et  appareils  effroyables, 
dequoy  nous  l'entournons,  qui  nous  font  plus  de  peur  qu'elle  :  une  toute 
nouvelle  forme  de  vivre  :  les  cris  des  meres,  des  femmes,  et  des  enfans  : 
la  visitation  des  personnes  estonnees,  et  transies  :  l'assistance  d'un 
nombre  de  valets  pasles  et  eplores  :  une  chambre  sans  jour  :  des  cierges 
allumez  :  nostre  chevet  assiege  de  medecins  et  de  pescheurs  :  somme 
tout  horreur  et  tout  effroy  autour  de  nous.  Nous  voyla  des-ja  ensevelis 
et  enterrez  3. 

Montaigne  belongs  to  that  somewhat  small  class  of  writers 
who  write  for  the  eye  rather  than  for  the  ear.  His  style  as  a 
rule  is  wanting  in  the  rich  harmony  which  is  so  distinguishing 
a  feature  of  Rabelais.  Yet  occasionally  this  feature  is  also 
present,  as  in  the  magnificent  description  of  philosophy  in 
the  Essay  On  the  Education  of  Children,  or  in  the  following 
description  of  Paris  : 

Je  ne  veux  pas  oublier  cecy,  que  je  ne  me  mutine  jamais  tant  contre 
la  France,  que  je  ne  regarde  Paris  de  bon  ceil.  Elle  a  mon  cceur  des 
mon  enfance.  Et  m'en  est  advenu  comme  des  choses  excellentes  :  plus 
j'ay  veu  depuis  d'autres  villes  belles,  plus  la  beaute-  de  cette  cy,  peut,  et 
gaigne  sur  mon  affection.     Je  L'ayme  par  elle  mesme,  et,   plus  en   son 

1  II.  1  (De  rinconstance  de  nos  actions). 

-  His  other  three  are  Plain,  Malebranche,  and  Shaftesbury. 

3  1.  19. 


I76  MONTAIGNE  [CH. 

estre  scul,  que  rechargee  de  pompe  estrangere.  Je  l'ayme  tendrement, 
jusques  a  ses  vermes  et  a  ses  tasches.  Je  ne  suis  Francois  que  par  cette 
grande  cite  :  grande  en  peuples,  grande  en  felicite  de  son  assiette  :  mais 
sur  tout  grande,  et  incomparable  en  variete,  et  diversity  de  commoditez  : 
la  "loire  de  la  France,  et  l'un  des  plus  nobles  ornements  du  monde. 
Dieu  en  chasse  loing  nos  divisions  :  entiere  et  unie,  je  la  trouve  defifendue 
de  tout  autre  violence.  Je  l'advise,  que  de  tous  les  partis,  le  pire  sera 
celuy  qui  la  metra  en  discorde1. 

But  his  ordinary  style  is  a  style  comique  et  prive,. . .trop 
scrn\  desordonne,  coicpe2.  Add  to  this  its  rich  imagery  and 
you  have  a  style  as  unlike  as  possible  to  that  which  made 
French  prose  so  illustrious  in  the  days  of  Louis  XIV.  Yet 
the  man  of  genius  to  whom  the  triumph  of  this  new  prose  was 
due  was  evidently  a  close  student  not  only  of  Montaigne's 
thought  but  of  his  style.  For  he  learnt  from  Montaigne  that 
there  can  be  no  really  great  prose  unless  it  is  touched  with 
emotion,  and  unless  it  is  the  sincere  expression  of  the  writer's 
thought. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Editions. 

Essais... Liure  premier  &■  second,  2 vols.  Bordeaux,  1580;  edition  seconde, 
reueu'e  &  augmente'e,  Bordeaux,  1582  ;  cinquiesme  edition,  augmentie 
d'vn  troisiesme  liure  &"  de  six  cens  additions  aux  deux  premiers,  Paris, 
1588;  edition  nouvelle,  trovvee  apres  le  deceds  de  t'Autheur,  reueue  &> 
augmente'e  par  luy  d'vn  tiers  plus  qit aux  precedences  Impressions,  Paris, 
1 595  (with  a  preface  by  MUe  de  Gournay).  The  third  edition  (Paris,  1587) 
is  merely  a  reproduction  of  the  second,  and  the  fourth  edition  is  unknown. 
Of  these  original  editions  the  text  of  1580  has  been  reproduced  by 
Dezeimeris  and  Barckhausen,  2  vols.  Bordeaux,  1870;  that  of  1588  by 
Motheau  and  Jouaust,  7  vols.  1886;  that  of  1595  by  E.  Courbet  and 
Ch.  Royer,  5  vols.  187 2- 1900. 

The  last  edition  has  a  critical  apparatus  giving  the  various  readings 
of  the  original  editions  and  of  the  MS  additions  inserted  by  Montaigne  in 
a  copy  of  the  1588  text  which  is  preserved  in  the  municipal  library  at 
Bordeaux.  In  1802  an  edition  was  published  in  4  vols,  by  Naigeon, 
based  on  this  copy,  but  as  the  readings  were  not  faithfully  reproduced,  it  is 

1  in.  9  (De  la  vanite). 

2  !■  39-  Comique  means  'familiar,'  the  style  of  comedy  as  opposed  to  that  of 
tragedy. 


XXI]  MONTAIGNE 


177 


of  no  value.    Some  of  the  more  interesting  readings  are  given  by  Gustave 
Brunet  in  his  Les  Essais  de  Michel  de  Montaigne,  Lecons  inedites,  1844. 

An  edition  shewing  in  a  convenient  form  the  successive  stages  of  the 
Essays  and  furnished  with  a  sufficient  commentary  is  still  much  needed. 
See  R.  Dezeimeris,  Recherches  sur  la  recension  du  texte  posthume  des 
Essais,  Bordeaux,  1866;  L.  Manchon,  De  la  constitution  du  texte  des 
Essais  in  Leon  Manchon,  Laval,  1886. 

Mlle  de  Gournay  published  at  least  ten  editions  subsequent  to  that  of 
1595  ;  of  these  the  most  interesting  are  that  of  1598,  in  which  the  long 
preface  of  1595  is  replaced  by  a  much  shorter  one  ;  that  of  161 1,  the  first 
edition  with  the  names  of  the  authors  of  the  quotations  ;  and  that  of 
1635,  dedicated  to  Richelieu,  with  some  changes  in  the  text  and  with  the 
original  preface  restored  in  a  modified  and  improved  form. 

Of  the  later  editions  the  most  important  besides  those  named  above 
are  the  following  :  ed.  P.  Coste,  3  vols.  London,  1724  ;  ed.  J.  V.  Le  Clerc 
5  vols.  1826,  with  an  introduction  and  with  notes  which  form  the  basis  of 
later  commentaries  (the  text  of  this  edition  was  the  valgate  for  many  years  ; 
the  orthography  and  punctuation  were  supposed  to  be  Montaigne's,  but  are 
really  Naigeon's);  ed.  C.  Louandre,  4  vols.  Charpentier,  1854  (a  variorum 
edition,  frequently  reprinted)  ;  4  vols.  Gamier,  1865  (with  Le  Clerc's 
notes  and  a  study  by  Prevost-Paradol) ;  2  vols.  1874  (a  convenient 
reprint  of  the  last  edition). 

La  theologie  naturelle  de  Raymond  Sebon,  1 569  ;  Journal  du  7'oyage 
de  Michel  de  Montaigne  en  Italie  par  la  Suisse  et  VAllemagne  en  1 580  et 
1 581,  ed.  Meusnier  de  Ouerlon,  3  vols,  (or  1  vol.  4to.),  Rome  and  Paris, 
1774  ;  ed.  A.  d'Ancona,  with  notes,  Citta  di  Castello,  1889. 


Translations. 

John  Florio's  famous  translation  was  published  in  1603,  and  has  been 
republished  several  times  in  recent  years,  viz.  in  1886,  with  an  introduc- 
tion by  H.  Morley  ;  in  the  Tudor  Translations,  3  vols.  1892,  with  an 
introduction  by  G.  Saintsbury  ;  and  in  the  Temple  Classics,  6  vols.  [897. 
Charles  Cotton's  translation  appeared  in  3  vols.  1685.  It  was  repub- 
lished by  W.  Hazlitt  in  1842,  and  by  \V.  C.  Hazlitt,  3  vols.  1877,  and, 
after  revision,  4  vols.  1902.  Both  Florio  and  Cotton  often  miss 
Montaigne's  meaning,  especially  Florio,  but  Florio  is  more  akin  to 
Montaigne  in  spirit,  writing  in  the  rich  and  imaginative  style  of  tin- 
Elizabethan  age.  Mr  Hazlitt's  revision  is  often  less  accurate-  than 
Cotton's  original  translation.  An  Italian  translation  of  sonic  oi  tin- 
Essays  by  G.  Naselli  was  published  at  Fcrrara  in  1590.  The  Journal 
du  Voyage  has  recently  been  translated  with  an  introduction  and  notes 
by  W.  G.  Waters,  3  vols.  1903. 

T.  II.  I- 


178  MONTAIGNE  [CH. 


Life. 

Dr  J.  F.  Payen,  an  ardent  admirer  of  Montaigne,  formed  a  large 
and  important  collection  of  documents  relating  to  his  life  and  writings. 
These  are  now  preserved  in  the  Bibliotheque  nationale,  and  a  catalogue 
has  been  published  by  G.  Richou,  Inventaire  de  la  collection  des 
ouvrages  et  documents  reunis  par  J.  F.  Payen  et  J.  B.  B  as  tide  sur  M.  de 
Montaigne,  suivi  de  lettres  inedites  de  Francoise  de  la  Chassagne  (Mme 
de  Montaigne),  1878.  Payen  published  in  his  life-time  four  series  of 
Documents  inedits  in  1847,  1850,  1855  and  1856  respectively.  Another 
important  contribution  to  the  biography  of  Montaigne  is  T.  Malvezin, 
Michel  de  Montaigne,  son  origine,  sa  famille,  Bordeaux,  1875.  A^  these 
materials  have  been  utilised  in  the  excellent  life  by  P.  Bonnefon, 
Montaigne,  I'homme  et  Voenvre,  4to.  1893,  with  numerous  illustrations 
and  facsimiles;  reprinted  in  Montaigne  et  ses  amis,  2  vols.  1897. 
See  also  the  Notice  by  E.  Courbet  in  vol.  v.  of  Courbet  and  Royer's 
edition,  1900.  The  older  English  life  by  Bayle  St  John,  2  vols.  1858,  is 
sensible  and  appreciative. 


TO   BE   CONSULTED. 

E.  Pasquier,  Lettres,  xvi  1 1.  1,  1592.  Pascal,  Entrelien  avec  M.  de 
Saci  sur  Epictete  et  Montaigne.  Malebranche,  Recherche  de  la  verite, 
11.  3,  5,  1675.  A.  Villemain,  Eloge  de  Montaigne,  1812.  H.  Hallam, 
Literature  of  Europe,  1837-39  (4th  ed.  1854,  II.  26  ff.).  C.  A.  Sainte- 
Beuve,  Port-Royal,  bk  III.  cc.  1 — 3,  1842  ;  Causeries  du  Lundi,  IV. 
76  ff.,  185 1  (also  two  unimportant  articles  in  Nouveaux  Lundis,  II.  and 
vi.).  R.  W.  Emerson  in  Representative  Men,  1850  ("The  Montaigne  of 
Mr  E.  is  Mr  E.  himself,''  Bayle  St  John).  A.  Griin,  La  vie  publique 
de  Michel  Montaigne,  1855  (uncritical).  R.  W.  Church  (Dean  of  St  Paul's) 
in  Oxford  Essays,  1857,  reprinted  in  Miscellaneous  Essays,  1888.  A.  Vinet, 
Moralistes  des  seizieme  et  dix-septihne  siecles,  1859.  E.  Galy  and 
L.  Lapeyre,  Montaigne  chez  lid,  Perigueux,  1861.  Prevost-Paradol,  Etude, 
prefixed  to  Garnier's  edition  of  1865,  reprinted  in  Etudes  sur  les  moralistes 
franqais,  8th  ed.  1895.  A.  Desjardins,  Les  moralistes  francais  du  seizieme 
siecle,  1870.  H.  Thiinme,  Der  Skepticisnius  Montaignes,  Gottingen, 
1875.  W.  L.  Collins,  Montaigne,  1879  (in  Foreign  Classics  for  English 
Readers,  an  excellent  little  book).  F.  Combes,  Essai  sur  les  ide'es 
politiques  de  Montaigne  et  la  Boetie,  Bordeaux,  1882.  W.  H.  Pater, 
cc.  IV.  and  V.  of  an  unfinished  romance,  Gaston  de  Latour,  first  printed 
in  Macmillarts  Magazine,  1889,  republished  in  vol.  IV.  of  Works  ^a  most 
charming  and  sympathetic  appreciation).  John  Owen,  Skeptics  of  the 
French  Renaissance,  1893.  E.  Faguet,  Seizieme  siecle,  1894.  M.  Lanusse, 
Montaigne  (in  Classiques  populaires),  1895.     P.  Stapfer,  Montaigne  (in 


XXI]  MONTAIGNE  1 79 

Les  grands  ecrivains  francais),  1895  ;  La  famille  et  les  amis  de 
Montaigne,  1896  (both  well-balanced  and  sensible).  R.  Doumic,  Etudes 
stir  la  litterature  francaise,  \re  se'rie,  Legoisme  de  Montaigne,  1896. 
M.  E.  Lowndes  (Miss),  Michel  de  Montaigne,  Cambridge,  1898  (based  on 
M.  Bonnefon's  book,  but  shewing  independent  research).  G.  Guizot, 
Montaigne,  1899  (posthumous  fragments  with  a  preface  by  E.  Faguet, 
the  work  of  a  close  student  of  Montaigne,  who,  like  Pascal,  combined 
with  a  strong  admiration  for  his  style  an  equally  strong  dislike  of  his 
doctrines).  E.  Ruel,  Du  sentiment  artistiqne  dans  la  morale  de  Montaigne, 
1901  (another  posthumous  work,  also  introduced  by  E.  Faguet ;  the  writer 
was  a  professor  of  the  Ecole  des  Beaux-Arts  ;  no  warmer  appreciation  of 
Montaigne  has  ever  appeared,  and  the  central  idea  that  he  observed 
life  as  an  artist,  if  sometimes  pressed  too  far,  is  undoubtedly  true). 
E.  Champion,  Introduction  aux  Essais  de  Montaigne,  1900. 


La  Boetie. 

CEuvres  completes,  ed.  P.  Bonnefon,  1892.  Life,  by  G.  Colletet  in 
Vies  des  poetes  bordelais  et pe'rigourdins  ed.  P.  Tamizey  de  Larroque,  1873. 
L.  Feugere,  E.  de  la  Boetie,  1845,  reprinted  in  Caracteres  et  portraits 
litteraires  du  xvie  siecle,  1859.  J.  F.  Payen,  Notice  bio-bibliographique 
sur  La  Boetie,  1853.     C.  A.  Sainte-Beuve,  Causeries  du  Lundi,  IX.  1853. 

For  a  fuller  bibliography  of  Montaigne  and  La  Boetie  see  P.  Bonnefon 
in  Petit  de  Julleville,  ill.  483 — 5. 


\i     z 


CHAPTER   XXII 


THE  FOLLOWERS  OF  RABELAIS 

It  was  inevitable  that  a  writer  of  such  marked  individuality 
of  style  as  Rabelais  should  produce  a  crop  of  imitators,  and 
that  these  imitators,  failing  to  catch  any  reflexion  of  his  real 
genius,  should  attach  themselves  to  his  peculiarities,  or  even 
to  his  defects.  The  grosser  imitations,  such  as  Le  disciple 
de  Pantagruel  under  its  various  titles  or  the  Mythistoire 
Barragouyne  de  Fanfreluche  et  Gondichon,  may  be  left  out  of 
account1.  But  there  were  writers  who,  while  the  form  and 
style  of  their  works  mark  them  as  true  disciples  of  Rabelais, 
yet  retain  enough  of  independence  to  give  them  a  place  in 
literature.  For  the  one  lesson  that  they  learnt  in  common 
from  their  master  was  of  sufficiently  wide  interpretation  to 
cover  much  difference  of  treatment.  This  lesson  was  the 
possibility  of  obtaining  a  hearing  for  the  discussion  of  grave 
topics  under  the  cloak  of  broad  laughter.  Lacking  however 
for  the  most  part  Rabelais's  deep  vein  of  humour,  which 
enlivens  the  most  ordinary  matters  by  a  sympathetic  touch, 
they  were  left  to  the  short  story  or  conte  as  their  chief  resource 
for  raising  laughter. 

Hence  these  writers  are  generally  classed  in  histories  of 
French  literature  under  the  heading  of  conteurs,  though  this 
title  by  no  means  expresses  the  real  aim  and  character  of  their 

1  See  F.  A.  Arnstadt,  F.  Rabelais  und  sein  Traite  d Education,  Leipsic,  1S7:, 
pp.  68  ff. 


CH.  XXII]  THE    FOLLOWERS   OF    RABELAIS  iSl 

work.  It  is  in  fact  hardly  better  suited  to  them  than  it  is  to 
Rabelais  himself1.  They  are  really  essayists  in  form,  and 
observers,  for  the  most  part  satirical  observers,  of  society  in 
substance.  Indeed  all  of  them  are  inferior  in  the  art  of 
telling  a  story  to  two  men  who  figure  elsewhere  in  this 
history,  Henri  Estienne  and  Agrippa  d'Aubigne.  Before, 
however,  coming  to  these  followers  of  Rabelais  mention 
must  be  made  of  a  writer  whose  book  does  consist  exclusively 
of  stories,  and  of  stories  told,  not  in  the  off-hand  manner  of 
the  essayists,  but  with  the  amplitude  and  detail  of  the 
Heptameron — in  a  word  nouvelles  rather  than  contes. 

In  the  year  1 571,  when  the  peace  of  Saint-Germain  (August 
1570)  had  given  a  respite  to  the  horrors  of  civil  war,  Jacques 
Iver  or  Yver,  a  gentleman  of  Poitou,  was  moved  by  the  success 
of  the  French  translation  of  Bandello  to  write  some  original 
stories  of  a  similar  character2.  Bandello  had  published  the 
first  three  parts  of  his  Novelle  in  15543,  and  his  work,  as  the 
production  of  a  French  bishop  (for  he  had  been  appointed  to 
the  see  of  Agen  in  1550),  had  immediately  attracted  attention 
in  his  adopted  country4.  In  1559  Pierre  Boaisteau,  who  had 
just  edited  the  Heptameron,  and  Francois  de  Belleforest  pro- 
duced translations  of  some  of  the  stories,  Boaisteau  translating 
six  and  Belleforest  twelve.  These  were  republished  together 
in  1568,  and  the  work  was  continued  by  Belleforest  alone, 
a  second  volume  appearing  in  1569  and  a  third  in  1570s. 

Yver  now  set  to  work  to  rival  Bandello,  adopting  a  similar 
framework  for  his  stories  to  that  of  the  Heptameron.  The 
tellers  of  the  stories  are  three  gentlemen  and  two  ladies  who 
meet  at  the  chateau  of  Printemps,  the  ladies  being  the  daughter 
and  niece  of  the  diatclaine.     By  Printemps  is  evidently  meant 

1  Marty-Laveaux  says  very  truly,  Les  bibliograpkes  et  les  critiques  ont  Jadis 
enferme  Rabelais  dans  la  categorie  des  conteurs,  nuxis  V importance  de  wt 

brise  Tctroitesse  de  ce  compartiment,  Petit  de  Julleville,  in.  72. 

2  See  Yver's  preface. 

3  At  Lucca. 

4  Bandello  took  refuge  in  France  about  the  year  [530. 

5  The  fourth  part  of  Bandello's  Novelle  was  published  at  Lyons  in  15;. 

his  death,  and  in  1582  and  1583  the  sixth  and  seventh  volumes  "I  the  French 
translation  were  published. 


[82  THE   FOLLOWERS   OF   RABELAIS  [CH. 

the  celebrated  chateau  of  Lusignan1,  distant  sixteen  miles  from 
Poitiers,  which  on  Shrove-Tuesday  1574  was  surprised  by  the 
Huguenots,  and  after  a  siege  of  nearly  four  months'  duration 
capitulated  in  January  1575  and  was  razed  to  the  ground2. 
Yver's  stories  are  all  of  considerable  length,  each  being 
supposed  to  occupy  a  day  in  the  telling.  As  in  the 
Heptameron  they  are  preceded  and  followed  by  a  discussion. 
As  might  be  expected  from  a  rival  of  Bandello  they  are  all  of 
a  thoroughly  romantic  and  tragic  character.  The  manner  of 
telling  them  is  somewhat  diffuse  and  artificial,  and  the  style  is 
wanting  in  ease  and  directness,  but  a  certain  air  of  distinction 
saves  it  from  being  wearisome.  The  most  noteworthy  of  the 
five  stories  is  the  first,  which  relates  to  the  loves  of  Eraste  and 
Perside,  the  scene  being  laid  in  Rhodes.  It  furnished  the 
theme  for  an  English  tragedy,  Solyman  and  Perseda\  at  the 
close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  for  several  French  plays 
and  a  novel  by  Mlle  de  Scudery  in  the  next  century4.  The 
scene  of  the  second  story  is  laid  at  Mainz,  of  the  third  at 
Mantua,  of  the  fifth  at  Padua,  while  the  fourth  relates  to 
William   the  Conqueror. 

The  author  did  not  live  to  enjoy  the  popularity  of  his 
Printemps,  for  he  died  in  1572  before  its  publication.  In  the 
same  year  it  went  through  three  editions,  which  had  increased 
to  eleven  by  the  end  of  the  century5.  It  also  produced  some 
imitations,  such  as  L'Ete  by  Benigne  Passenot  (1583)  and 
Le  Printemps  d'Ete  by  Nicolas  de  Montreux.  An  English 
translation  by  Henry  Wotton  was  published  in  1578  under 
the  title  of  A    Courtlie  Controversie  of  Cupid's  Caute/s6. 

1  It  was  said  to  have  been  built  by  the  Fairy  Melusine. 

2  D'Aubigne,  Hist.  Univ.  bk  vii.  c.  13  (iv.  311);  Brantome,  (Ettvres,  v.  16—20. 
:i  Printed  in  1599  and  ascribed  to  Kyd  by  both  Dr  Ward  and  Mr  Boas.     It  is 

the  '  play  within  the  play  '  of  The  Spanish  Tragedy. 

4  See  E.  Sieper  in  Zeitschrift  fur  vergleich.  Lift.  IX.  33  ff. 

5  The  first  edition  was  published  at  Paris  by  L'Angelier,  the  second  at  Antwerp, 
the  third  at  Paris  (copy  in  the  Brit.  Mus.),  the  fourth  at  Antwerp,  1573,  the  fifth 
and  sixth  at  Paris,  1575  and  1576. 

6  Only  two  copies  are  known  to  exist,  one  in  the  British  Museum  and  the  other 
in  the  Bodleian  ;  both  are  imperfect.  The  translator  must  not  be  confused  with 
Sir  Henry  Wotton.     It  may  be  noted  here  that  a  French  translation  of  the  first 


XXII]  THE   FOLLOWERS   OF   RABELAIS  183 

While  Le  Printemps  d  Yver  is  modelled  on  the  Hep  tamer  on 
and  consists  wholly  of  tragic  stories  told  at  some  length,  Les 
escraignes  dijonnoises  is  a  collection  of  short  tales  of  the 
popular  gaidois  type  like  those  of  the  Joyettx  Devis.  But 
they  have  none  of  the  merits  of  that  remarkable  work,  or 
indeed  any  other  merit.  They  appeared  in  1588,  the  author 
being  Estienne  Tabourot,  who  was  born  at  Dijon  in  1547, 
became  prociireur  du  roi  in  1582  and  died  in  1590.  Previous 
to  the  Escraignes  dijonnoises  he  had  published  a  far  more 
interesting  work  which  he  whimsically  entitled  Les  Bigarrures 
du  Seigneur  des  Accords^.  It  consists  almost  entirely  of  essays 
on  various  artificial  forms  of  verse,  such  as  rebuses,  vers 
rapportes,  equivoques  or  puns,  and  leonine  verses.  There  are 
also  chapters  on  anagrams  and  epitaphs,  so  that  the  whole 
book  throws  a  good  deal  of  light  on  the  literary  fashions 
of  Tabourot's  day.  It  had  considerable  success,  editions 
appearing  in  each  year  from  1583  to  1586.  A  copy  of 
the  second  edition  was  sent  by  the  author  to  Estienne 
Pasquier,  who  acknowledged  it  in  an  interesting  letter2.  In 
1585  a  second  part  was  added,  consisting  only  of  three 
chapters,  of  which  one,  like  the  first  book,  deals  with  the 
subject  of  French  verse3.  This  new  edition  included  the  first 
instalment  of  the  Apophtegmes  du  Seigneur  de  Goulard,  an 
imaginary  person  whose  'pleasant,  witlesse  and  simple  speeches' 
are  meant  to  be  humorous.     Tabourot  also  wrote  five  books 


part  of  Straparola's  Piacevoli  notte  by  Louveau  appeared  in  1  560  and  one  of  the 
second  part  by  Pierre  Larivey  in  1573,  and  that  in  1584  that  indefatigable  translator 
from  the  Italian  and  Spanish,  Gabriel  Chappuys  of  Tours,  published  his  Lei 
facetieuses  journees. 

1  The  first  known  edition,  that  of  1583,  is  not  the  first  ;  this  must  havi 
published  in  1581  or  1582  and  was  probably  only  a  small  volume.     The  publisher, 
writing  in  1581,  says  the  book  was  first  put  into  his  hands  '  about  four  j 
and  in  the  edition  of  1584  fotir  is  altered  to  eight. 

a  Lettres,  vm.    14.     I  have  already  had  occasion  to  refer  to    this   lettei    in 
discussing  the  authorship  of  fla&Joyeux  Devis  (ante,  1.  : 

3  Tabourot  calls  this  new  book  the  fourth,  car  ce  volume  entier  ne  teroit  /</< 
Men   bizarre  s'il   suivoit   la  facon   des   ordinaires   icrivains.       The    / 
Apophtegmes,    and    Escraignes    dijonnoises     with     a     portion    "f     Lei      Touchet 
were  first  published   together    at    Lyons  in    1603.     (See    Turner    cat.    »nd    part, 
no.    3953.) 


lS.}  THE  FOLLOWERS  OF  RABELAIS  [CH. 

of  epigrams  not  without  merit,  which  he  entitled  Les  Touches 
dii  Seigneur  des  Accords. 

Of  the  writers  visibly  inspired  by  Rabelais  the  first  in  the 
field  and  the  first  in  merit  was  Noel  du  Fail,  a  gentleman  of 
Brittany,  who  lived  partly  on  his  property,  nine  miles  from 
Rennes,  and  partly  at  Rennes  itself  first  as  advocate  and  then 
as  judge1.  After  studying  at  Paris,  serving  as  a  volunteer  in 
Italy  (1543 — 1544)  and  reading  law  at  various  French  uni- 
versities, Angers,  Poitiers,  Bourges,  etc.,  he  published  in  1547 
and  1548  respectively  under  the  name  of  Leon  Ladulphi  (an 
imperfect  anagram  of  his  name)  two  little  books  entitled 
Propos  rustiques  and  Baliverneries.  Estienne  Pasquier,  writing 
to  Ronsard  in  1555,  speaks  of  him  as  a  singe  de  Rabelais'1. 
This  is  an  uncritical  remark,  for,  though  Du  Fail  is  an  evident 
admirer  of  Rabelais  and  frequently  refers  to  him  in  his  book, 
his  style  is  his  own  and  only  resembles  that  of  his  master  in  a 
few  peculiarities.  The  chief  of  these  is  a  certain  coquetry  in 
the  choice  of  his  words  and  in  the  construction  of  his  periods, 
apparently  with  the  object  of  giving  to  his  language  that  air 
of  exuberance  and  gusto  which  is  characteristic  of  Rabelais. 
In  Du  Fail's  case  this  often  leads  to  obscurity,  which  is 
increased  by  the  frequent  allusions  to  provincial  customs. 
Sometimes  however  the  effect  is  happy  enough.  The  following 
account  of  a  certain  Robin  Chevet  will  give  an  idea  of  the 
style  : 

Voulentiers  apres  souper,  le  ventre  tendu  comme  vn  tabourin,  saoul 
comme  Patault,  iazoit  le  dos  tourne"  au  feu,  teillant  bien  mignonnement  du 
chanure,  ou  raccoustrant,  a  la  mode  qui  couroit,  ses  bottes  (car  a  toutes 
modes  dordinaire  saccoustroit  Ihomme  de  bien),  chantant  bien  melodieuse- 
ment,  comme  honnestement  le  scauoit  faire,  quelque  chanson  nouuelle, 
Iouanne  sa  femme  de  lautre  coste  qui  filloit,  luy  respondant  de  mesmes. 
Le  reste  de  la  famille  ouurant  chascun  en  son  office,  les  vns  adoubans  les 
courroyes  de  leurs  fleaux,  les  autres  faisans  dents  a  Rateaux,  bruslans 
hars  pour  lier  (possible)  laixeul  de  la  charrette,  rompu  par  trop  grand  faix, 
ou  faisoyent  vne  verge  de  fouet  de  mesplier,  ou  meslier3. 

He  was  born  according  to  F.  Frank  at  the  end  of  1526  or  the  beginning  of 
1527.     (See  Baliverneries,  ed.  Courbet,  I.  p.  li.)     He  died  in  1591. 
2  Lettres,  1.  viii. 
'■'•  Propos  rustiques,  ed.  A.  de  la  Borderie,  p.  36. 


XXII]  THE    FOLLOWERS    OF    RABELAIS  ^5 

But  Du  Fail's  merit  lies  less  in  his  style  than  in  his  realistic 
pictures  of  country  life  and  his  sketches  of  country  character. 
In  his  next  volume,  Baliverneries  on  contes  nouveaux  dEutrapel^ 
a  larger  part  is  given  to  the  conte,  but  even  here  his  chief 
preoccupation  is  the  portrayal  of  country  life  and  the  quasi- 
dramatic  presentation  of  character.  The  description  of  a 
peasant's  cottage  in  the  fourth  chapter  is  excellent,  and  the 
story  which  follows  of  Dame  Goute  and  Mlle  Hyraigne 
(Araigne)  is  told  with  great  liveliness.  In  this  book  the 
setting  is  furnished  by  the  friendly  meetings  of  Eutrapel 
(Noel  du  Fail),  Polygame  (his  elder  brother  Francois)  and 
Lupolde,  a  lawyer  (Colin  Briant),  the  gay  and  impetuous 
character  of  Eutrapel  being  contrasted  with  the  calm  good 
sense  of  the  grave  Polygame. 

After  the  publication  of  the  Baliverneries  Du  Fail  devoted 
himself  to  the  duties  of  the  legal  profession,  and  it  was  not  till 
the  close  of  the  year  1585,  when  he  was  on  the  point  of 
resigning  his  post  of  councillor  in  the  Parliament  of  Brittany, 
that  he  published  Les  contes  et  discours  d' Eutrapel.  Con- 
siderably longer  than  the  two  works  of  his  youth,  it  is  also, 
in  spite  of  some  coarse  stories,  much  graver  in  tone.  We  are 
again  introduced  to  Eutrapel  and  his  friends,  and  their  con- 
versation turns,  not  as  before  on  local  customs,  but  on  general 
topics  of  the  day.  The  reformation  of  the  judicial  system  and 
the  church  is  what  the  writer  has  most  at  heart,  and  it  is 
interesting  to  find  him  approving  of  the  proposal  to  secularise 
all  church  property  which  was  put  forward  by  the  Third 
Estate  at  Orleans  in  1560,  and  which  he  here  ascribes  to  the 
celebrated  jurist  Charles  du  Moulin1.  Like  his  earlier  books 
the  Contes  dy  Entrap  el  throws  considerable  light  on  the  manners 
and  general  life  of  the  day,  and  there  is  frequent  mention  of 
contemporaries.  From  the  purely  literary  point  of  view  it 
must  be  confessed  that  the  book  often  suffers  from  two 
common  faults  of  sixteenth-century  literature,  pedantry 
and  want  of  proportion.  There  is  however  considerable 
charm  in  the  chapter  entitled  Du  temps  present  et  pa 
(c.  xxii).  The  stories  too  are  told  with  much  liveliness  and 
1  C.  ix.  and  see  c.  i.  {De  la  justice).     C  xxxiv.  is  a  defence  ■>!  <  Ihristianity. 


lS6  THE   FOLLOWERS   OF   RABELAIS  [CH. 

a  considerable  sense  of  humour,  as  for  example  the  fable 
of  the  clay  pot  and  the  iron  pot  (c.  ii),  the  story  of  Eutrapel 
and  the  Fiddler  (c.  xviii),  that  of  the  bishop  who  could  not 
bear  any  mention  of  death,  and  the  well-known  one  from 
Plutarch  of  the  senator  whose  wife  could. not  keep  a  secret 
(both  in  c.  xxxiii).  Many  of  the  stories  are  extremely  coarse 
both  in  thought  and  language,  but  however  much  we  may 
regret  this,  it  serves  to  remind  us  that  in  Du  Fail's  day  such 
licence  was  compatible  with  grave  and  enlightened  views  of 
society,  and  with  genuine  religious  feeling. 

Though  on  the  title-page  of  the  book  the  author  is 
described  as  the  late  Seigneur  de  la  Herissaye,  this  seems 
to  have  been  merely  a  whimsical  allusion  to  his  contemplated 
retirement,  for  as  a  matter  of  fact  he  lived  nearly  six  years 
longer,  dying  in   1 591. 

The  publication  of  Du  Fail's  last  volume  was  perhaps  due 
to  the  success  of  Montaigne's  Essais  and  it  is  noteworthy  that 
about  this  time  several  works  were  published,  which,  while  in 
many  features  they  bear  traces  of  Rabelais's  influence,  yet  by 
their  miscellaneous  and  desultDry  character  shew  a  decided 
affinity  to  Montaigne.  Thus  in  the  year  1585,  the  year  of 
the  publication  of  the  Contes  d' Eutrapel,  a  certain  Seigneur 
de  Cholieres,  about  whom  very  little  is  known,  but  who  was 
apparently  a  native  of  Maine1,  published  a  volume  entitled 
Les  neuf  matinees,  which  was  followed  in  1587  by  Les 
Apresdisnces.  He  was  a  follower  of  Rabelais  and  a  man  of 
some  erudition,  of  which  he  makes  a  considerable  display  in 
his  books.  They  are  in  the  form  of  conversations,  which  turn 
on  law,  medicine,  philosophy,  astrology,  and  other  less 
important  subjects. 

There  are  few  stories,  and  these  are  told  very  briefly  ;  in 
spite  of  the  attempt  at  gaiety  the  general  tone  is  heavy  and 
commonplace.     The  writer  was  evidently  a  lover  of  style  and 

1  In  another  work  the  dramatist  Robert  Gamier  is  described  as  his  compatriot 
(P.  Lacroix,  (Envres,  I.  iv.),  and  in  the  Apresdisnies  one  of  the  speakers  says 
'  Notre  voisin  de  Touraine  '  (n.  41 ).  Lacroix  points  out  that  the  statements  that  he 
was  an  advocate  of  the  Parliament  of  Grenoble  and  that  his  Christian  name  was 
Nicolas  are  both  devoid  of  authority. 


xxn]  THE    FOLLOWERS    OF    RABELAIS  iS" 

language,  and  though  Rabelais  is  his  obvious  model  he  cannot 
be  reproached  with  following  him  slavishly.  But  his  power  of 
playing  with  words  is  a  long  way  inferior  to  his  master's,  and 
he  is  never  able  to  shake  off  the  appearance  of  effort.  His 
favourite  poet  seems  to  have  been  Du  Bartas,  whom  he  not 
unfrequently  quotes. 

Similar  in  title  to  Les  Apresdisnces  are  the  Series  of 
Guillaume  Bouchet,  the  worthy  bookseller  whom  we  have 
met  before  as  forming  one  of  the  literary  group  of  Poitiers. 
He  was  older  than  his  friends,  having  been  born  in  15  13.  The 
first  book  of  the  Serees  appeared  in  1584,  but  the  complete 
work  in  three  books,  with  considerable  additions  to  the  first 
book,  was  not  published  till  1608,  fourteen  or  fifteen  years 
after  his  death1.  He  makes  no  attempt  to  imitate  Rabelais, 
writing  in  an  unaffected  familiar  style.  But  he  frequently 
refers  to  him  as  well  as  to  Montaigne,  Bodin,  Ronsard,  and 
Pibrac.  The  stories  are  very  numerous — there  must  be  some- 
thing like  eight  hundred  altogether — and  they  are  told  with 
great  brevity  and  no  attempt  at  artistic  presentation.  The  Series 
are  in  short  a  kind  of  commonplace  book,  the  result  of  the 
author's  discursive  reading,  arranged  in  thirty-six  chapters  or 
serees,  the  titles  of  which  correspond  very  fairly  well  to  their 
contents.  For  unlike  Rabelais  and  Montaigne,  Bouchet  had 
an  orderly  mind.  His  book  attained  considerable  popularity, 
fresh  editions  being  published  down  to  1635.  It  is  a  book 
to  read  in,  rather  than  to  read  continuously,  and  that  not  for 
its  artistic  merit,  but  for  the  light  that  it  throws  on  sixteenth- 
century  thought  and  society. 

The  Serees  and  the  Apresdisnees  are  mild  Symposia,  but 
Le  Moyen  de  parvenir  is  rather  of  the  nature  of  a  debauch. 
Alike  in  form  and  in  substance  it  is  a  caricature  of  the-  Liceru  e 
which  characterises  so  much  of  the  writing  of  the  French 
Renaissance.  The  men  and  women  who  take  part  in  these 
unbridled  conversations  are  drawn  from  all  ranks  and  all 
ages,  but  their  remarks  make  no  pretence  at  being  characteristic 
of  the  distinguished  persons  who  are  supposed  to  utter  them. 
The  book  is  a  satire  on  the  human   race,  but   such   wit   and 

1    He  died,  aj,'ed  So,  in  1593  or  1594. 


[88  THE   FOLLOWERS   OF   RABELAIS  [CH. 

wisdom  as  it  contains  lie  so  deeply  buried  in  rubbish  and 
filth  that  few  people  at  the  present  day  are  likely  to  be  at  the 
pains  of  searching  for  them.  Moreover,  to  use  Rabelais's 
metaphor  in  the  famous  prologue  to  Gargantua,  the  marrow 
in  this  case  is  hardly  worth  the  trouble  of  sucking  the  bones. 
The  author,  Francois  Beroalde  de  Verville,  as  he  pleased  to 
style  himself,  was  the  son  of  Matthieu  Beroald1,  a  native  of 
Picardy  and  a  zealous  Protestant,  who  at  one  time  kept  a 
school  at  Paris,  Agrippa  d'Aubigne  being  one  of  his  pupils. 
The  son,  stimulated  by  his  father,  acquired  a  mass  of  ill- 
digested  learning  on  many  subjects,  including  alchemy. 
Already  in  1584,  when  he  was  only  twenty-eight,  he  figures 
in  La  Croix  du  Maine's  bibliography  as  the  author  of  many 
works2.  These  he  continued  to  produce  in  abundance,  but 
only  Le  Moyen  de  parveiiir,  which  was  published  between  161 2 
and   1620,  has  attained  any  celebrity. 

The  excessive  licence  of  thought  and  language  which 
disfigures  the  book  was  now  fast  becoming  an  anachronism. 
By  1620  Mme  de  Rambouillet  had  rebuilt  her  hotel,  and  was 
conducting  in  her  famous  blue  chamber  her  campaign  against 
grossness.  Though  the  old  practices  lingered  on  in  baccha- 
nalian songs  and  burlesque  plays  it  ceased  to  be  possible  for  a 
man  of  genius  to  roll  in  filth.  Woman  avenged  herself  on 
Rabelais.  He  had  almost  banished  her  from  his  book.  She 
almost  banished  him  from  polite  society. 

1  He  had  been  educated  at  the  expense  of  his  mother's  relative,  Francois 
Vatable,  the  great  Hebrew  scholar.  His  real  name  was  Brouart,  but  he  called 
himself  Beroald  to  please  Vatable ;  his  son  added  an  e  to  the  name. 

2  In  !583  ne  published  a  poem  entitled  L'idee  de  la  rSpublique. 


XXII]  THE    FOLLOWERS    OF    RABELAIS  189 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
Editions. 

Jacques  Yver,  Le  Printemps  d' Yver,  1572;  in  the  Pantheon 
litte'raire  {Les  vieux  couteurs  francais),   1841. 

ESTIENNE  TABOUROT,  Les  Bigarrures  die  Seigneur  des  Accords,  1 5  13 
(Brit.  Mus. ;  Picot,  II.  no.  1777).  Les  escraignes  dijonnoises,  1588  (Arsenal 
library)  ;  3  vols.  Brussels,  1866  (this  includes  the  Escraignes  and  the 
Apophtegmes  du  Seigneur  de  Gaulard  and  Colletet's  Life  of  Tabourot). 
Les  Touches  du  Seigneur  des  Accords,  1585  (in  three  books);  reprinted  in 
Raretes  bibliographiques,  Brussels,  1863  ;  the  fourth  and  fifth  books  were 
published  in  1588.  An  English  translation  of  the  Apophtegmes  by  J.  B. 
of  Charterhouse  was  printed  for  private  circulation  at  Glasgow  in  1884 
from  a  manuscript  in  the  possession  of  F.  W.  Cosens  of  about  the  date  of 
1660.  It  was  entitled  Bigarrures  or  the  pleasant,  witlesse  and  simple 
speeches  of  the  Lord  Gaulard  of  Burgundy. 

Noel  du  Fail,  Propos  rustiques,  Lyons,  1547  (Picot,  II.  no.  1776; 
only  three  copies  known)  ;  ed.  A.  de  la  Borderie,  1878.  Balivemeries  ou 
contes  nouveaux  d'Eutrapel,  1548  (only  two  or  three  copies  are  known  ; 
one  is  in  the  possession  of  M.  Alfred  Dupre,  and  another  which  was 
formerly  in  the  possession  of  Ch.  Nodier  was  sold  at  the  Ruble  sale 
(no.  490) ;  there  is  a  charming  reprint  by  the  Chiswick  Press,  1S15,  made 
possibly  from  a  third  copy).  Les  contes  et  discours  d'Eutrapel,  Rennes, 
1585  ;  ed.  C.  Hippeau,  2  vols.,  1875.  Les  balivemeries  et  les  contes 
d'Eutrapel,  ed.  E.  Courbet,  2  vols.,  1894. 

N.  DE  CHOLIERES,  Les  Neuf Matinees,  1585.  Les Aprks disnees,  1587. 
QLuvres,  ed.  E.  Tricotel  with  a  preface  by  P.  Lacroix,  2  vols.,  1879. 

Guillaume  Bouchet,  Les  screes,  ire  livre,  Poitiers,  1584;  en  trots 
livres,  1608  ;  ed.  C.  E.  Roybet  (Ch.  Royer  and  E.  Courbet),  6  vols., 
1873— 1882. 

Francois  Beroalde  de  Verville,  Le  Moyen  de  parvenir  [between 
1612  and  1620];  ed.  Ch.  Royer,  2  vols.,  1896.  See  Viollct  le  Due, 
Bibliotheque  politique,  2nd  part,  1847,  pp.  169 — 172. 


TO   BE  CONS!  I.'l  l  D. 

F.  Frank,  Noel  du  Fail  in  L  amateur  d' autograph,  s,  1876;   E.  and  E. 
Haag,  La  France  Protestauie,  2nd  ed.  s.v.  Beroalde.     I •'..  Cougny,  /■' 
de  Verville  in  Mem.  de  la  SOciCte1  tics  sciences  morales,  des  1,  tires  et  a 
de  Seine  et  Oise,  XII.  1880  (pub.  separately  as  £tudes  tuf 

For  the  relations  of  Du  Fail,  Tabourot,  and  B.  de  Verville  to  Rabelais 
see  Schneegans,  Geschichte  der grotesken  Satire,  pp.  282  -289,  Strasburg, 
1894. 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

MEMOIRS    AND    LETTERS 

I.      Brantome,  Margaret  of  Valois,  Henry  IV,  Monluc, 
La  None. 

I  HAVE  suggested  that  some  of  the  books  discussed  in  the 
last  chapter,  published  as  they  were  in  the  years  1584  and 
1585,  and  written  for  the  most  part  by  country  gentlemen  who 
were  also  lawyers,  were  prompted  not  only  by  frequent 
reading  of  Rabelais  but  by  the  signal  success  which  attended 
Montaigne's  Essays.  It  is  also  possible  that  the  same  success 
may  have  prompted  another  gentleman  of  Perigord,  M.  de 
Brantome,  to  engage  in  a  similar  undertaking1.  It  is  at  any 
rate  pretty  evident  from  the  only  two  passages  in  which 
Brantome  mentions  Montaigne  that  he  regarded  him  and  his 
Essays  with  a  certain  dislike  and  jealousy.  It  especially 
vexed  him  that  the  order  of  St  Michael  should  have  been 
conferred  on  one  who  had  worn  the  lawyer's  gown2. 

Yet  the  two  gentlemen  of  Perigord  had  a  good  deal  in 
common.  Like  Montaigne,  Brantome  pretended  to  be  careless 
of  literary  fame,  but  in  reality  took  every  pains  to  secure  it ; 
like  Montaigne  he  loved  digressions,  gaillardes  escapades,  from 
his  main  theme  ;  like  Montaigne  he  has  drawn  for  us,  though 
in  his  case  unconsciously,  a  portrait  of  himself ;  like  Montaigne 
he  was  curious  of  information,  fond  of  travel  and  books.  But 
these  points  of  similarity  are  after  all  superficial ;  the  difference 
is    fundamental.      While    Montaigne    tested    the   world    and 

1  This  idea  has  occurred   to   Prof.  Saintsbury,   from  whom   I   may  have  un- 
consciously borrowed  it. 

2  CEuvres,  ed.  Lalanne,  v.  92  :  see  also  vi.  497. 


CH.  XXIII]  MEMOIRS  AND   LETTERS  191 

society  by  the  light  of  his  shrewd  common  sense,  Brantome 
accepted  them  without  question  or  reflexion.  Montaigne 
was  essentially  a  thinker,  Brantome  was  merely  a  reporter  ; 
Montaigne  was  a  moralist,  for  Brantome  the  word  morality 
had  no  meaning.  Montaigne  criticised  his  age,  Brantome 
reflected  it.  That  indeed  is  Brantome's  chief  value,  that  he 
reflects  his  age  like  a  mirror,  but  it  must  be  added  that  he 
reflects  chiefly  its  more  trivial,  not  to  say  its  more  scandalous 
side.      He  is  the  Suetonius  of  the  French  Renaissance. 

Pierre  de  Bourdeille,  "  reverend  father  in  God,  abbe  de 
Brantome,"  belonged  to  a  noble  and  ancient  family  of 
Perigord1.  The  precise  date  of  his  birth  is  uncertain,  but  it 
must  be  placed  somewhere  between  1539  and  1542.  He  spent 
his  childhood  with  his  grandmother,  Louise  de  Vivonne,  wife 
of  the  seneschal  of  Poitou,  at  the  court  of  Margaret  of 
Navarre,  and  after  studying  first  at  Paris  and  then  at  Poitiers, 
travelled  for  more  than  a  year  in  Italy,  returning  to  France  at 
the  beginning  of  1560,  when  he  made  his  first  appearance  at 
the  Court.  Though  he  already  held  other  benefices  besides 
the  abbey  from  which  he  took  his  title,  he  was  not  in  orders. 
The  next  fourteen  years  were  spent  by  him  either  in  fighting 
on  the  Catholic  side  in  the  religious  wars,  or  in  attendance  at 
the  Court,  or  in  travel.  In  1574  his  military  career  came  to 
an  end,  for  his  duties  as  gentleman  of  the  chamber,  to  which 
post  he  had  been  appointed  in  1568,  kept  him  at  Court, 
frivolous,  idle,  and  discontented.  At  last  the  refusal  of 
Henry  III  to  bestow  on  him  the  promised  post  of  governor 
of  Perigord  filled  him  with  such  fury  that  he  determined  t<> 
enter  the  service  of  Spain.  But  a  fall  from  his  horse,  which 
kept  him  in  bed  for  four  years  (i  583—1 587),  saved  him  from 
being  a  renegade  to  his  country  and  turned  him  into  ;i  man  <>t 
letters2. 

For  it  was  during  this  forced  inactivity,  apparently  in  1 584, 
that  he  began  his  literary  labours,  which  he  continued  for  the 

1  Brantome  is  9  miles  north  of  P^rigueux  and  Bourdeille  is  4  oailti  l'""" 
Brantome. 

2  See  his  preface  I.  4  and  v.  211.  Brantdme  wrote  an  autobiography  which 
was  still  in  existence  at  the  beginning  of  the  17th  century.    [Rev.  cThist.lUl.  IV.  :*;.) 


[Q2  MEMOIRS   AND   LETTERS  [CH. 

next  thirty  years,  most  of  which  he  spent  on  his  estate.  He 
died  in  1 614,  leaving  a  will  of  portentous  length,  in  which, 
among  other  things,  he  charged  his  heirs  to  have  his  works 
printed  en  belle  et  grand  lettre  et  grand  volume.  The  charge 
was  neglected,  and  it  was  not  till  1665- 1666  that  an  incomplete 
and  defective  edition  was  published  at  Leyden,  in  the  Elzevir 
form.  Previous  to  this,  however,  several  copies  had  been 
made  of  his  manuscripts,  and  Le  Laboureur  in  his  edition  of 
Castelnau's  Memoirs,  published  in  1659,  had  printed  long 
extracts. 

Brantome  was  a  disappointed  man  when  he  wrote  his 
memoirs.  He  had  been  an  assiduous  courtier  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century  and  had  gained  nothing  by  it,  while  he  had  seen 
men  whose  merits  he  believed  to  be  inferior  to  his  rise  to 
wealth  and  honour1.  But  though  he  had  the  love  of  frivolity 
and  the  moral  indifference  of  a  true  courtier,  he  had  not  his 
pliability.  "  He  was  violent,"  says  Le  Laboureur,  "difficult  to 
live  with  and  of  a  too  unforgiving  spirit2."  Perhaps  the  best 
thing  that  can  be  said  in  his  favour  is  that  among  his  most 
intimate  friends  were  two  of  the  most  virtuous  characters  of 
their  time,  Teligny,  the  son-in-law  of  Coligny,  whom  he  calls 
his  frere  d'alliance,  and  Teligny' s  brother-in-law,  Francois  de 
la  Noue.  Among  his  other  friends  were  Louis  de  Berenger, 
seigneur  du  Guast,  who  was  assassinated  by  order  of 
Marguerite  de  Valois,  and  above  all  Filippo  Strozzi,  the  son 
of  Piero  Strozzi,  who  was  his  friend  for  over  twenty  years3, 
and  who  exercised  over  him  considerable  influence. 

The  names  by  which  Brantome's  writings  are  generally 
known  are  not  those  which  he  himself  gave  them.  Thus 
the  titles  Dames  illustres  and  Dames  galantes  are  an  inven- 
tion of  the  Leyden  publisher  for  the  Premier  et  Second 
livre  des  Dames.  The  other  main  division  of  his  writings, 
Homines,  consisted  in  Brantome's  manuscript  of  two  volumes, 

1  (Envres,  v.  306. 

2  Quoted  by  Lalanne,  Brantome,  p.  331. 

3  Je  fay  pratique" fort  familierement  I'espace  de  trente  ans  ou  plus.  But  Strozzi 
was  killed  in  1582,  and  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  Brantome  made  his  ac- 
quaintance before  1560. 


XXIII]  MEMOIRS    AND    LETTERS 


193 


the  first  containing  the  Grands  capitaines,  French  and  Spanish, 
and  the  second  Les  couronnels,  Discours  sur  les  duels,  Rodo- 
montades espagnoles,  and  a  separate  account  of  La  Noue.  His 
original  manuscript  was  completed  while  Margaret  was  still 
the  wife  of  Henry  IV,  that  is  to  say  before  November  1599, 
but  some  time  after  her  divorce  he  made  a  carefully  revised 
copy.  It  is  upon  this  copy  that  the  text  of  M.  Lalanne's 
edition  is  based  for  the  first  five  volumes  (Hommes)1. 

Regarded  strictly  as  biographies  Brantome's  lives  have 
slender  merit,  for  the  majority  give  one  little  or  no  idea  of  the 
character  of  the  persons  treated.  He  is  least  successful  with 
those  who  had  in  them  elements  of  real  greatness,  such  as 
Coligny  and  Conde2.  Even  the  long  life  of  Francois  de 
Guise3,  though  it  contains  some  interesting  and  valuable 
information,  throws  little  light  on  Guise  himself.  But  he  drives 
us  good  superficial  portraits  of  Charles  IX4,  Catharine  de' 
Medici5,  and  the  Constable  de  Montmorency6,  while  several  of 
the  minor  lives,  such  as  Brissac  and  his  brother  Cossd7, 
Matignon8,  and  Mary  of  Hungary9,  are  not  only  amusing  but 
hit  off  the  characters  with  considerable  success.  One  of  the 
most  entertaining  is  the  unfinished  account  of  his  father". 
On  the  other  hand  the  account  of  Margaret  of  Valois,  though 
it  contains  some  interesting  details,  is  too  ecstatic  in  its  open- 
mouthed  admiration  to  have  any  value  as  a  biography.  The 
conclusion  of  the  account  of  Monluc  may  be  quoted  not  only 
for  its  reference  to  Monluc's  conversational  powers,  but  as 
throwing  light  on   Brantome's  own  character: 

Or,  pour  fin  de  ce  discours,  M.  de  Montluc  a  estd  un  tres-grand, 
brave  et  bon  capitaine  de  son  temps:  et  il  le  faisoit  beau  ouyr  pari  1 
et  discourir  des  armes  et  de  la  guerre,  ainsi  que  j'en  ay  faict  l'expe'rien 
moy  ayant  este  sur  la  fin  de  ses  jours  un  de  ses  grandz  gouverm 
et  mesmes  au  siege  de  La  Rochelle  et  a  Lyon,  Iorsqu'il  fut  fai<  1 
Mareschal  de  France,  j'estois  fort  souvent  avec  luy  et  m'aymoit  fort, 
et  prenoit  grand  plaisir  quand  je  le   mettois   en   propos  en  entrain,  et 

1  This   edition  is  divided  as  follows:    Grands  capitaines,    [—IV.   v.    i       196; 
Couromieh,   rest   of  v.;    Discours  sur  lcs  duels.   VI.;    Rodomon 

treatises,  vn.  1—303  ;  Dames,  rest  of  VII.  VIII.  IX.;   Opuscules,  I 
vol.  also  contains  a  glossary,  and  vol.  XI.  a  full  index. 

2  (Euvres,  I  v.  3  ib.  4  v.  6  VII.  •ill. 
7    IV.                        8   V.                        9   VIII.                        '"    X. 

T.  II.  '  I 


194 


MEMOIRS   AND    LETTERS  [CH. 


luy  faisois  quelques  demandes  de  guerre  ou  autres  choses  ;  car  je  ne 
suis  jamais  este"  si  jeune  que  je  n'aye  tousjours  este  fort  curieux 
d'apprendre  ;  et  luy,  me  voyant  en  ceste  voulonte,  il  me  respondent  de 
bon  coeur  et  en  beaux  termes,  car  il  avoit  une  fort  belle  eloquance 
militaire  et  m'en  estimoit  davantage.     Dieu  ayt  son  ame1. 

Much  of  the  interest  of  Brantome's  book  is  to  be  found 
in  his  numerous  digressions,  for  which  he  is  constantly 
apologising-.  Thus  in  the  middle  of  the  account  of  Mont- 
morency we  have  a  laudatory  sketch  of  Michel  de  l'Hospital, 
in  that  of  Tavannes  a  digression  on  the  order  of  St  Michael, 
in  that  of  Bellegarde  an  account  of  his  own  treatment  by 
Henry  III3.  The  digressions  are  frequently  made  occasions 
for  amusing  stories,  which,  like  Montaigne's,  are  distinguished 
from  such  as  Bouchet  and  Beroalde  de  Verville  collected,  in 
that  they  generally  illustrate  some  trait  of  human  character. 

Like  Montaigne  again,  Brantome  copies  freely  and  without 
acknowledgement  from  books.  Whole  pages  are  taken  from 
Le  loyal  serviteur,  stories  are  borrowed  from  Rabelais, 
Des  Periers,  and  the  Heptameron,  as  well  as  from  most  of  the 
writers  dealt  with  in  the  last  chapter.  But  Brantome,  unlike 
Montaigne,  tries  to  conceal  his  thefts  by  judicious  alterations, 
or  by  pretending  that  he  heard  the  story  himself,  or  even  that 
he  was  a  witness  of  the  event  related.  J'ai  any  confer  and 
J'ai  vu  are  frequently  in  his  mouth4.  He  was  doubtless 
chiefly  influenced  in  these  endeavours  to  conceal  his  borrow- 
ings by  the  same  form  of  vanity  as  Montaigne,  the  desire 
to  be  regarded,  not  as  a  man  of  letters,  but  as  a  gentleman 
who  amused  himself  by  putting  down  his  reminiscences  on 
paper.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  he  tries  to  give  a  negligent 
and  conversational  air  to  his  style.  The  result  is  that  he  is 
often  ungrammatical  and  sometimes  obscure.  Yet  his  style, 
at  any  rate  in  the  eyes  of  a  foreigner,  has  considerable  merit, 
and  chiefly  from  its  power  of  vivid  presentment.  For 
Brantome,  like  other  Gascons,  like  Montaigne  and  Monluc 
and  Henry  IV,  saw  things  vividly  and  can  make  his  readers 

1  CEuvres,  iv.  59. 

2  See  for  a  defence  of  his  method,  v.  337  and  347.  s  All  in  v. 
4  See  Lalanne,  Brantome,  p.  353  ff. 


XXIII]  MEMOIRS   AND   LETTERS  195 

see  them.  He  has  a  store  of  expressive  words  and  phrases 
such  as  un  pen  hommasse  (of  Mary  of  Hungary),  arrondis 
comme  potirons  (of  stout  men),  une  vraie  pancarte  des  choses 
mcmorables  de  la  court  (of  his  aunt),  toujours  trottant,  traversant 
et  vagabondant  le  monde.  A  noticeable  feature  of  his  style  is 
his  love  of  Italian  and  Spanish  words,  reflecting  in  this,  as 
in  other  features,  the  prevailing  fashion  of  the  Court1. 

Brantome's  keen  enjoyment  of  the  world's  pageantry  was 
seldom  disturbed  by  inconvenient  reflexion.  His  only  quarrel 
with  society  was  that  the  ruling  powers  were  blind  to  his  own 
merits.  He  thought  the  duel,  even  in  the  treacherous  and 
bloodthirsty  fashion  in  which  it  was  then  carried  on,  an 
excellent  institution,  and  at  the  end  of  his  account  of  Coligny 
he  inserts  an  elaborate  disquisition  on  the  material  benefits 
which  the  religious  wars  had  conferred  on  France.  All 
classes  had  profited,  nobles,  clergy,  magistrates,  merchants, 
artisans. 

Et  la  ville  de  Perigueux,  quoy  qui  a  este  pillee  des  huguenotz  l'espace 
de  cinq  a  six  ans,  aujourd'huy  on  n'y  trouve  rien  a  redire  qu'elle  ne 
soit  aussi  riche,  voire  plus  que  jamais.  Tant  d'autres  villes  en  conte- 
rois-je  ;  mais  j'en  laisse  la  curiosite  a  plus  entendus  que  moy.  Href,  il 
faut  dire  de  la  France  ce  que  disoit  le  grand  capitaine  Prospero  Colomne 
de  la  duche  de  Milan,  qui  ressembloit  un'  oie  bien  grasse,  que  tant  plus 
on  la  plumoit  tant  plus  la  plume  luy  revenoit.  La  cause  done  en  est  deue 
a  ceste  bonne  guerre  civile,  tant  bien  invantee  et  introduicte  de  ce  grand 
M.  l'admiral. 

Ce  n'est  pas  tout  :  les  gens  d'eglise,  lesquelz  cryoient  le  plus  apres 
les  huguenotz  et  leur  guerre,  y  ont  gaigne  autant  que  les  autres  ;  tesmoings 
les  tresors  et  riches  relicques  qu'ilz  ont  vendu  soubz  main,  en  faisant 
accroyre  que  les  huguenotz  les  avoient  prises  par  force,  aucuns  autres 
fouillez  en  terre,  qu'ilz  avoient  cachez  ;  et  donnoient  a  entendre  qu'ilz 
avoient  tant  desrobe  ;  et  non  tant  certes  qu'eux-mesmes  s'en  estoient 
secrettement  accommodez. 

Que  dira-1'on  d'un  tiers  estat,  qui  avec  les  autres  en  disoit  sa  rast(  11'  c 
et  desbagouloit  pis  que  pendre  apres  M.  l'admiral  et  sa  guerre?  Y  ont- 
ilz  beaucoup  perdu?  Non  certes,  mais  beaucoup  gaigne"  et  enrichys ; 
car  marchans,  artizans,  gens  de  mestier  et  autres  de  ce  tiers  ebt.u,   SC 

1  Brantome  est  le  prince  des   espagnolisanls  du  xvie  siide,    A.    Morel 
Atudes  sur  V Espagne,   ire  serie,   p.   28,    1888. 

•3-2 


I96  MEMOIRS   AND    LETTERS  [CH. 

sont  si  bien  accreuz,  que  ce  qui  se  vendoit  paradvant  un  teston,  aujourd'huy 
se  vend  l'escu  pour  le  moins1. 

And  all  this  is  said  in  sober  earnest,  without  a  suspicion  of 
irony.  One  might  at  any  rate  give  Brantome  credit  for 
originality  had  he  not  told  us  at  the  outset  that  this  was 
the  substance  of  a  conversation  which  he  overheard  at  Court 
between  two  great  persons,  one  a  soldier  and  the  other  a 
statesman,  and  both  excellent  Catholics.  Brantome  was  the 
echo  as  well  as  the  mirror  of  the  Court.     Dieu  ayt  son  time! 

Brantome's  glowing  panegyric  on  Margaret  of  Valois2 
induced  that  virtuous  princess  to  write  her  memoirs,  partly  in 
order  to  supplement  his  account  of  her,  partly  to  correct  a  few 
errors  into  which  he  had  fallen.  It  is  to  Brantome  accordingly 
that  her  memoirs  are  addressed.  They  were  written  about 
the  year  1 597  in  the  cJidteau  of  Usson  in  Auvergne,  where  she 
had  resided,  nominally  as  a  prisoner,  since  1587.  She  insists 
at  the  outset  on  their  veracity,  but  it  is  just  their  lack  of 
veracity  which  detracts  from  their  interest.  For  there  runs 
through  them  a  vein  of  insincerity,  a  constant  endeavour  to 
pose  as  a  virtuous  and  religious  woman.  It  is  curious  how 
this  is  reflected  in  the  style.  While  the  more  apologetic 
parts  of  her  narrative  shew  traces  of  the  various  affectations  of 
her  age,  of  classical  pedantry,  of  the  abuse  of  metaphor,  of 
long  and  involved  sentences,  on  the  other  hand  when  she  is 
not  thinking  of  her  reputation  she  writes  not  only  with 
elegance  and  distinction — for  these  qualities  never  desert  her 
— but  with  ease,  correctness,  and  simplicity. 

The  best-known  passage  in  her  memoirs  is  the  account  of 
her  experiences  during  the  massacre  of  St  Bartholomew.  Of 
greater  length  and  equally  well-written  is  the  description  of 
her  journey  to  Spa,  one  incident  of  which,  the  tragic  love-affair 
of  one  of  her  waiting-women,  MUe  de  Tournon,  is  told  with  a 
delicate  pathos  which  recalls  one  of  the  best  inspired  tales  of 
the  earlier  Queen  of  Navarre.  Naturally  there  is  much  in 
Margaret's  life  that  is  omitted — self-revelation  was  not  her 
purpose — but  her  admiration    for  Bussy  d'Amboise  and  her 

1  (Euvres,  iv.  332  ff.  -   1553—1615. 


XXIII]  MEMOIRS   AND   LETTERS  197 

hatred  of  Du  Guast  are  made  sufficiently  plain.  The  memoirs 
stop  abruptly  in  1582,  the  last  record  being  an  account  of  her 
behaviour  to  her  husband  and  his  mistress  La  Fosseuse,  an 
incident  which  throws  a  curious  light  on  the  relations  of  this 
oddly-assorted  couple,  and  which  was  no  doubt  written  for 
the  purpose  of  prejudicing  her  readers  in  her  favour  on  the 
question  of  her  divorce.  In  autobiographies  les  absents  out 
toujours  tort. 

Margaret's  letters,  with  the  exception  of  those  addressed 
to  one  of  her  lovers,  Harlay  de  Champvallon,  which  are  stilted 
and  affected,  are  written  with  the  same  correctness,  ease 
and  elegance  as  her  memoirs.  But  there  is  nothing  re- 
markable about  them.  On  the  other  hand  her  husband, 
Henry  IV,  has  deservedly,  and  without  in  the  least  seeking  it, 
the  reputation  of  being  the  best  letter-writer  of  the  period. 
In  an  age  in  which  the  besetting  sin  of  prose  writers  was 
long-winded ness  and  obscurity,  he  was  remarkable  for  short 
and  simple  sentences.  No  doubt  this  was  partly  due  to  force 
of  circumstance.  A  man  who  has  to  dash  off  his  letters 
between  saddle  and  supper  must  say  what  he  has  to  say  in  the 
fewest  terms,  plainly  and  to  the  point.  But  Henry's  rapid 
and  direct  way  of  writing  is  also  a  mirror  of  his  character;  it 
reflects  his  rapidity  of  movement  and  thought,  and  his  power 
of  going  straight  to  the  heart  of  things.  Moreover,  his 
imagination  if  of  no  great  depth  was  easily  moved.  Hence 
the  frequent  use  of  picturesque  words  and  expressions  which 
give  a  racy  but  untranslatable  flavour  to  his  more  intimate 
letters.  The  same  lively  imagination,  united  with  the  supple- 
ness of  mind  and  character  which  was  partly  natural  to  him, 
but  which  had  been  greatly  developed  by  the  difficulties  (-1  his 
career,  made  him  at  once  a  consummate  judge  ot  other  nun  S 
characters,  and  a  master  in  one  of  the  rarest  arts  "I  letter- 
writing,  that  of  varying  his  tone  with  his  correspondent.  1  hus 
to  his  companions-in-arms  he  is  brusque  ami  soldier-like,  at 
once  their  comrade  and  their  commander;  to  his  mi 
he  is  the  ardent  and  devoted  lover,  with  a  halo  of  romance 
round  his  head;  to  Henry  III  he  is  the  loyal  and  respe.  tful 
subject  even  when  he  is  fighting  against    him.     And   to  all 


198  MEMOIRS   AND   LETTERS  [CH. 

alike  he  writes  with  a  warmth  of  feeling  that  must  have  roused 
a  corresponding  glow  in  their  hearts,  even  if  they  felt  some- 
times that  behind  the  Gascon's  frank  and  affectionate  bonhomie 
lay  a  clear  perception  of  his  own  needs  and  of  the  means 
by  which  they  could  best  be  satisfied.  Finally,  he  has  the 
indispensable  quality  of  a  successful  letter-writer,  that  of 
writing  to  his  friends  as  if  he  were  talking  to  them. 

His  fullest  letters  are  those  to  the  Comtesse  de  Gramont, 
la  belle  Corisande,  the  lady  to  whom  Montaigne  dedicated  La 
Boetie's  sonnets,  and  of  all  Henry's  mistresses  the  most  nearly 
his  equal  in  force  of  mind  and  character.  It  is  to  her  that  he 
wrote  the  celebrated  description  of  the  island  of  Marans  near 
La  Rochelle,  which  Sainte-Beuve  declares  to  be  the  pearl  of 
his  love-letters.  A  worthy  pendant  to  it,  though  in  an 
entirely  different  strain,  is  the  letter  to  Madame  de  la  Roche- 
Guyon  (a  lady  who  had  declined  his  offers  of  undying  affection), 
written  on  the  eve  of  an  expected  battle  with  the  Duke  of 
Parma.     It  is  short  enough  to  be  quoted  in  full  : 

Ma  maistresse,  je  vous  escris  ce  mot  le  jour  de  la  veille  d'une  bataille. 
L'yssue  en  est  en  la  main  de  Dieu,  qui  en  a  desja  ordonne  ce  qui  en 
doibt  advenir  et  ce  qu'il  congnoist  estre  expedient  pour  sa  gloire  et  pour 
le  salut  de  mon  peuple.  Si  je  la  perds,  vous  ne  me  verre^s  jamais,  car 
je  ne  suis  pas  homme  qui  fuye  ou  qui  reculle.  Bien  vous  puis-je  asseurer 
que,  si  j'y  meurs,  ma  penultiesme  pensee  sera  a  vous,  et  ma  derniere 
sera  a  Dieu,  auquel  je  vous  recommande  et  moy  aussy.  Ce  dernier 
aoust  1590;  de  la  main  de  celuy  qui  baise  les  vostres  et  qui  est  vostre 
serviteur1. 

His  letters  to  his  comrades-in-arms  are  models  of  good 
fellowship  and  tact.  He  generally  subscribes  himself  Votre 
meillenr  maitre  et  pins  affectionne  ami  or  in  some  similar 
phrase,  and  this  aptly  expresses  the  relation  in  which  he 
stood  to  them.  Many  of  them  owed  him  no  allegiance 
except  that  due  to  an  elected  leader :  many  were  fighting  for 
their  own  hand  far  more  than  for  the  Huguenot  cause  ;  and 
nearly  all  were  jealous  of  one  another.  It  was  Henry's  task 
at  once  to  coax,  to  encourage,  and  to  command.     A   letter 

1  Lettres  missives,  ill.  244;  Dussieux,  p.  157. 


XXIII]  MEMOIRS   AND   LETTERS 


199 


to  Crillon,  or,  as  he  always  spelt  the  name,  Grillon,  may  be 
taken  as  a  specimen: 

Brave  Grillon,  pendes-vous  de  n'avoir  este  icy  pres  de  moi  lundy 
dernier  a  la  plus  belle  occasion  qui  se  soit  jamais  veue  et  qui  peut-estre 
se  verra  jamais.  Croyes  que  je  vous  y  ay  bien  desire.  Le  cardinal  nous 
vint  voir  fort  furieusement,  mais  il  s'en  est  retourne  fort  honteusement. 
J'espere  jeudy  prochain  estre  dans  Amiens,  ou  je  ne  sesjourneray  gueres, 
pour  aller  entreprendre  quelque  chose,  car  j'ay  maintenant  une  des 
belles  armees  que  Ton  scauroit  imaginer.  II  n'y  manque  rien  que  le 
brave  Grillon,  qui  sera  tousjours  le  bien  venu  et  veu  de  moy.  A  Dieu. 
Ce  xxe  septembre  [1597],  au  camp  devant  Amiens1. 

Or  the  following  to  Fervaques,  written  just  before  the  battle  of 
Ivry  : 

Fervaques,  a  cheval,  car  je  veux  voir  a  ce  coup-cy  de  quel  poil  sont  les 
oysons  de  Normandie.     Yenes  droict  a  Alencon  2. 

Or  this  masterpiece  of  persuasive  eloquence  : 

Mons1'  de  Launay  d'Entraigues,  Dieu  aydant,  j'espere  que  vous  estes 
a  l'heure  qu'il  est  restably  de  la  blessure  que  vous  receutes  a  Coutias, 
combattant  si  vaillamment  a  mon  coste  ;  et  si  ce  est,  comme  je  le 
espere,  ne  faites  faulte  (car  Dieu  aydant,  dans  peu  nous  aurons  a 
decoudre,  et  ainsy  grand  besoin  de  vos  services)  de  partir  aussitost  pour 
me  venir  joindre.  Sans  doubte  vous  n'aures  manque,  ainsy  que  vous 
l'avez  annonce  a  Mornay,  de  vendre  vos  bois  de  Mezilac  et  Cuze,  et  ils 
auront  produit  quelques  mille  pistoles.  Si  ce  est,  ne  faites  faulte  de 
m'en  apporter  tout  ce  que  vous  pourres  ;  car  de  ma  vie  je  ne  fus  en 
pareille  disconvenue,  et  je  ne  sc,ais  quand,  ni  d'ou,  si  jamais,  je  pourray 
vous  les  rendre  ;  mais  je  vous  promets  force  honneur  et  gloire  :  et  argent 
n'est  pas  pasture  pour  des  gentilshommes  comme  vous  et  moy. 

La  Rochelle,  ce  xxve  octobre  1588. 

Vostre  affectionnr, 

Henry8. 

Among  Henry's  followers  there  is  no  nobler  figure  than 

1  Lettrcs  missives,  IV.  848  (with  a  facsimile  1;   Dussieux,  p.  26c;. 

2  Lett  res  missives,  in.  161;  Dussieux,  p.  141. 

3  Lettres  missives,  11.  398;  Dussieux,  p.  106.     Henry's  sister  Catharine,  who 
became  Duchesse  de  Bar,  had  an  easy  and  graceful  epistolary  style.      \    1  lei  tion 

from  her  letters  is  printed  in  the  Bibl.  de  V Ecole  des  CAaries,  4 seY.   iii.   (18 

127  ff.  ;  325  ff.  ;  and  a  charming  letier  of  condolence  to  her  brothei  on  the  death 
of  Gabrielle  d'Estrees  is  given,  with  a  facsimile,  in  the  Lettrei  missives,  V.  40. 


200  MEMOIRS   AND   LETTERS  [CH. 

that  of  Francois  de  la  Noue\  His  Discours  politiques  et 
militaires,  written  during  his  imprisonment  in  the  Spanish 
fortress  of  Limburg,  near  Verviers  (i 580-1 585),  though  not, 
except  the  last,  in  any  sense  memoirs,  are  generally  classed 
under  that  head.  Even  in  the  last  discours,  entitled  Obser- 
vations sur  plusieurs  choses  advenues  anx  trois  premiers  troubles, 
though  he  is  dealing  with  matters  more  or  less  within  his 
own  experience,  he  keeps  his  own  personality  completely 
in  the  background.  Some  of  the  discours  treat  of  purely 
moral  questions,  so  that,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  to  make 
the  title  of  the  work  complete,  the  word  moraux  should 
be  added.  But  it  is  chiefly  as  a  political  reformer  that 
La  Noue  comes  before  us  in  his  Discours.  The  first  is 
a  noble  and  able  statement  of  the  condition  of  France, 
remarkable  for  its  impartiality  and  absence  of  party-spirit. 
The  same  tolerance  is  shewn  in  the  third,  in  which  he 
protests  against  the  common  practice  of  designating  those  of 
the  opposite  religion  to  the  speaker  as  heretics.  He  himself 
had  become  a  Protestant  in  1558  under  the  influence  of 
D'Andelot,  who  in  that  year  had  carried  on  an  active  propa- 
ganda in  distant  Brittany,  La  Noue's  native  province.  He 
had  fought  at  Dreux  in  the  first  civil  war,  had  seized  Orleans 
by  a  bold  stroke  in  the  second,  and  had  been  taken  prisoner 
both  at  Jarnac  and  Moncontour.  It  was  in  the  third  civil  war, 
at  the  siege  of  Fontenay,  that  he  lost  an  arm,  the  substitute 
for  which  gave  him  his  nickname  of  Bras-dc-Fcr.  His 
comments  therefore  on  the  first  three  wars  are  made  with  full 
knowledge  of  his  subject,  and  are  highly  instructive  both  from 
the  political  and  the  military  point  of  view.  Had  he  shewn 
less  modesty  in  concealing  his  own  important  share  in  the 
various  operations  he  would  have  been  read  more  and 
honoured  less. 

The  moral  discourses,  including  several  which  deal  more 
particularly  with  social  questions,  throw  considerable  light 
on  the  society  of  La  Noue's  day,  especially  the  eighth,  which 

1  See  Montaigne's  estimate  of  him,  Essais,  u.  17,  a  passage  added  in  the 
edition  of  1588.  He  was  born  in  1531  and  died  in  1591  from  a  wound  received 
at  the  siege  of  Lamballe. 


XXIII]  MEMOIRS   AND    LETTERS 


20 1 


investigates  the  causes  of  the  poverty  of  the  French  nobility, 
and  finds  them  in  their  increasing  extravagance,  especially 
in  building,  furniture,  and  dress.  The  twelfth  treats  of 
duelling,  and  may  be  profitably  compared  with  the  views  of 
Montaigne  and  Tavannes  on  the  one  hand,  and  those  of 
Brantome  on  the  other.  The  twenty-third  is  a  sermon 
against  Alchemy,  and  the  twenty-fourth,  Contre  ceux  qui 
pensent  que  la  Piete  prive  V  homme  de  tons  plaisirs,  is  directed 
against  the  Epicureans  or  Libertins1,  as  La  Noue  thinks  they 
should  be  called,  "who  finding  their  chief  good  in  pleasure, 
try  to  bring  the  Christian  life  into  contempt."  Lastly  there  is 
the  exceedingly  interesting  essay,  to  which  reference  has 
already  been  made  in  the  preceding  volume,  on  the  proposi- 
tion '  That  the  reading  of  the  Amadis  romances  is  no  less 
harmful  to  the  young  than  that  of  Machiavelli  to  the  old-.' 
A  couple  of  passages  from  this  will  give  a  sufficient  idea  of 
La  Noue's  style : 

Sous  le  regne  du  Roy  Henri  second,  ils  ont  eu  leur  principle  vogue  : 
et  croy  que  si  quelqu'vn  les  eust  voulu  alors  blasmer,  on  lui  eust  crache 
au  visage,  dautant  qu'ils  seruoyent  de  pedagogues,  de  iouet,  et  d'entretien 
a  beaucoup  de  personnes :  dont  aucunes  apres  auoir  apris  a  Amadiser  de 
paroles,  l'eau  leur  venoit  a  la  bouche,  tant  elles  desiroyent  de  taster 
seulement  vn  petit  morceau  des  friandises,  qui  y  sont  si  naiuement  et 
naturellement  representees. 


Ouand  vn  gentil-homme  auroit  toute  sa  vie  leu  les  liures  d'Amadis,  il 
ne  seroit  bon  soldat  ne  bon  gendarme.  Car  pour  estrel'vn  et  1'autre,  il  ne 
faut  rien  faire  de  ce  qui  est  la  dedans.  Ie  ne  specifieray  point  autrement 
ces  grans  coups,  qui  fendent  vn  homme  iusques  a  la  ceinture,  et  coupcnt 
vn  brassal  et  vn  bras  tout  net  :  ces  entre-choquemens  et  cheutes,  oil  Ion 
ne  se  fait  point  de  mal,et  puis  qu'on  ressaute  incontinent  a  cheual,  comme  si 
on  estoit  deuenu  Leopard  :  ni  ces  combats  continuez  l'espace  de  deux  heures 
acompagnez  de  sots  entreparlemens,  ni  des  vaillantises  imaginaires,  <|in 
font  qu'vn  homme  en  tue  deux  cens.  Car  la  chose  monstre  que  ce  n'est 
que  pour  faire  peur  aux  femmes,   ct  aux  pct'3  enfans  :    et  qui   voudra 

1  Libertin  implies  a  free-liver  as  well  as  a  free-thinker,      [n  the  libertit 

ville  M.  Hauser  sees  a  reference  to  Montaigne.     He  1  right,  Imt    I  do 

not  feel  quite  sure  about  it. 

2  Discours,  VI. 


202 


MEMOIRS   AND    LETTERS  [CH. 


perdre  le  temps  a  lire  au  long  ce  qui  en  est,  pourra  conoistre  si  e'est  a 
tort  ou  a  droit,  que  ie  reprouue  tous  ces  braues  et  magnifiques  badinages l. 

This  style,  without  any  special  charm  or  brilliancy,  has 
solid  merits.  It  is  singularly  equal,  it  is  clear,  well-balanced, 
and  weighty.  Its  habitual  gravity  is  occasionally  relieved  by 
familiar  and  expressive  phrases,  such  as  Veau  leur  venoit  a  la 
douche,  la  conscience  pins  large  que  la  manche  d'un  cordelier, 
arguer  la  desponille  d'un  gras  benefice.  And  it  is  La  Noue 
who  invented  Mademoiselle  la  Picoree,  qui  depuis  est  si  bicn 
accrue  en  dignite  qu'on  Vappelle  maintenant  Madame.  Et  si  la 
guerre  civile  continue  encor  je  ne  donte  point  qiielle  ne  deviene 
Princessc-.  Lively  touches  like  these  save  his  style  from  the 
reproach  which  Bossuet  brought  against  Calvin's,  that  it  was 
triste.  For  La  Noue  is  clearly  of  the  school  of  Calvin,  as  well 
in  the  logical  firmness  of  his  sentences  as  in  the  orderly 
arrangement  of  his  thoughts,  remarkable  in  that  age  of 
disorderly  writing. 

Though  his  early  education  had  been  neglected  he  had 
acquired  in  later  life  a  considerable  knowledge  of  classical 
literature,  though,  so  far  as  Greek  was  concerned,  through 
translations.  But  his  writing  is  singularly  free  from  classical 
pedantry.  His  most  frequent  references  are  to  Plutarch, 
whose  Lives  he  re-read  in  Amyot's  translation  during  his 
captivity.  It  is  pleasant,  too,  to  find  that  he  was  familiar 
with  Rabelais,  quoting  the  opinions  of  Frere  Jean  des 
Entommeures  as  if  he  were  a  historical  character3.  And  on 
occasion  he  can  tell  a  story  in  a  lively  and  dramatic  fashion, 
witness  that  of  the  poor  apprentice  who  had  found  the  secret 
of  true  Alchemy4. 

In  strong  contrast  to  the  humane  and  tolerant  La  Noue 
stands  the  ferocious  Catholic  leader,  Monluc,  whose  Com- 
ment aires  by  general  consent  stand  at  the  head  of  the 
Memoirs  and   other   similar   works   of   this   period.     It   may 

1  The  text  is  that  of  an  edition  published  in  1588  without  mention  of  the  place 
of  printing,  but  probably  printed  at  Geneva. 

2  Discours,   XXVI. 

Le  qtiel  a  este  vn  des  plus  braves  Moynes  moynans  de  son  temps,  VIII. 


XXIII]  MEMOIRS   AND   LETTERS 


203 


be  objected  that  a  book  which  treats  of  nothing  but 
minor  military  operations  is  likely  to  prove  monotonous 
to  the  general  reader,  especially  if,  as  in  Monluc's  case, 
these  are  dealt  with  in  a  somewhat  technical  fashion.  On 
the  other  hand  fighting  played  so  important  a  part  in 
those  days,  was  indeed  the  only  serious  occupation  of  the 
French  nobility,  that  a  book  of  this  sort  helps  us  to  under- 
stand the  age.  In  any  case  the  Commentaires  are  true 
memoirs,  personal  reminiscences  of  the  writer's  own  actions, 
the  record  of  which  by  his  own  pen  he  justifies  by  the 
example  of  "  the  greatest  captain  who  ever  lived,"  Julius 
Caesar.  For  Monluc,  born  near  Condom  in  the  heart  of 
Gascony,  was  as  typical  a  Gascon  as  the  incomparable 
M.  d'Artagnan.  Vain,  egotistical,  quarrelsome,  hot-tempered, 
yet  bearing  no  rancour;  brave  almost  to  ostentation,  yet  when 
occasion  required,  prudent  and  crafty ;  prompt,  resourceful, 
vigilant,  untiring,  ever  ready  for  a  hasardous  enterprise  and 
sparing  no  pains  to  secure  its  success  ;  not  a  great  general, 
but  a  born  leader — such  is  the  idea  we  get  of  Monluc  at  the 
close  of  his  Fourth  book.  But  as  we  read  further  the  portrait 
assumes  a  more  unpleasant  aspect.  Monluc  was  not  cruel  by 
nature,  he  was  no  fiend  to  gloat  over  the  suffering  of  his 
victims.  But  he  was  hard  and  pitiless  to  the  core,  carrying 
out  remorselessly  what  he  conceived  to  be  the  only  effective 
method  of  stamping  out  Protestantism.  It  had  succeeded  in 
Spain,  why  not  in  France?  He  was  no  religious  fanatic,  no 
more  than  Charles  V,  or  Catharine  de'  Medici,  or  the  Cardinal 
de  Guise,  but  the  Huguenots  were  rebels  and  must  be  put 
down  with  a  high  hand.  So  he  gave  no  quarter,  and  only 
made  prisoners  to  hang  them.  Towards  the  close  of  his 
Memoirs  he  looks  back  with  satisfaction  on  his  work  : 

Les  autres  querelles  se  pacifient  aisement,  mais  celle  de  la  religion  .1 
longue  suite,  et,  encore  que  les  gens  de  guerre  ne  soient  pas  fort  religieux, 
ils  prennent  party,  et  estant  engaige"s  ils  suivent  puis  apres.  A.ux  t<  1 1 
que  je  voy  les  affaires,  je  ne  croy  pas  que  nous  soyons  an  boul  :  poui  !<• 
moins  ay-je  ce  contentement  en  moy-mesme  de  m'y  estre  oppose'  autant 
que  jay  peu,  et  fait  mon  debvoir.  Pleust  a  Dieu  que  tous  ceux  qui  onl  eu 
les  forces  en  main,  n'eussent  non  plus  connive"  que  moy.      II  faul  laisser 


204 


MEMOIRS   AND    LETTERS 


[CH. 


faire    Dieu  :    apr£s   qu'il   nous  aura  prou    fouettes,   il  mettra  les  verges 
au  feu1. 

But  his  life  would  have  been  fairer  and  more  after  the 
ordinal'}-  human  pattern  had  it  ended  before  the  outbreak  of 
the  Civil  Wars.  He  was  then  in  his  sixtieth  year  and  had 
served  with  honour  in  the  Italian  wars  off  and  on  for  nearly 
thirty  years.  It  was  mainly  owing  to  his  advice  and  partly 
to  his  conduct  in  the  field,  if  we  may  trust  a  Gascon  on  such 
points,  that  the  victory  of  Cerisoles  was  won  by  the  French 
(1544),  and  his  account  of  it  is  admirable.  But  his  great  feat 
of  arms  was  the  defence  of  Siena  against  the  troops  of  Cosmo 
de'  Medici  and  his  imperial  allies.  He  had  to  capitulate  in 
the  end  (April  1555),  but  he  held  out  for  nearly  eight 
months.  The  critics  said  that  if  he  had  capitulated  sooner  he 
might  have  made  better  terms2,  but  he  was  a  soldier,  not  a 
politician,  and  when  he  returned  to  France  the  king,  Henry  II, 
who  was  also  a  soldier,  "  embraced  him  with  both  arms  and 
held  his  head  against  his  breast  almost  as  long  as  you  would 
take  to  say  a  Pater  noster."  So  he  went  to  his  lodgings  as 
contented  as  if  the  king  had  given  him  a  rich  present ;  car  fay 
este  tousjours  glorienx :  aussi  suis-je  Gascon. 

His  relation  of  this  siege,  which  occupies  the  whole  of  his 
Third  book,  is  on  the  whole  the  most  striking  part  of  his 
Memoirs.  The  following  passage  relates  how  Piero  Strozzi, 
after  his  defeat  at  the  battle  of  Marciano  and  after  an 
unsuccessful  attempt  to  throw  himself  into  the  town,  was 
finally  brought  in  by  Monluc's  nephew  : 

Sur  ces  entrefaictes  le  jour  commencea  a  venir  ;  Serillac  se  trouve 
n'ayant  perdu  que  trois  ou  quatre  de  sa  compaignie  qui  s'en  estoient 
fuys  avec  les  gens  de  pied  ;  et  croy  que  de  l'autre  compaignie  n'en 
demeura  pas  beaucoup,  car  il  n'y  avoit  qu'ung  lieutenant  qui  la  com- 
manclast.  Monsieur  le  mareschal,  qui  se  vist  sans  ouyr  aucung  bruit, 
remonte  a  cheval  asses  malaysement,  et  commensa  a  recognoistre 
nostre  cavalerie  qui  avoit  faict  haltou,  et  regardoict  Serillac  s'il  le 
trouveroict  parmy  les  mortz  ;  et  comme  il  le  vist  venir  a  luy,  je  vous 
laisse  a  penser  quelle  joye  eurent  et  lung  et  l'autre  :  et  ainsi  s;ache- 
minarent  droict  a  la  ville.     Or,  veux  je  dire  que  monsieur  le  mareschal 


1  Ed.  Ruble,  in.  513. 


-  Brantdme,  iv.  ;;  ff. 


XXIII]  MEMOIRS   AND   LETTERS  205 

fist  la  une  des  plus  grandz  folies  que  jamais  homme  de  son  estat  aye 
faicte,  comme  je  luy  ay  diet  cent  fois  despuis  :  car  il  s?avoict  bien  que 
s'il  estoict  prins,  tout  le  monde  ne  l'eust  sceu  sauver,  que  le  due  de 
Florence  ne  l'eust  fait  mourir  honteuzement,  pour  l'inimitie  juree  qu'il 
luy  portoict.  Et  encores  que  Serillac  feusse  mon  nepveu,  si  luy  donrray-je 
ceste  louange  et  reputation  avec  la  ve'ritte,  qu'il  feust  cause  du  salut  de 
monsieur  le  mareschal.  Je  le  puis  bien  escripre,  puis  que  monsieur  le 
mareschal  mesme  le  disoit1. 

I  have  cited  this  as  a  good  specimen  of  Monluc's  ordinary 
style.  The  first  thing  that  strikes  one  is  its  conversational 
character.  It  is  the  style  of  a  man  who  is  relating  his  ex- 
periences to  his  friends,  and  this,  as  we  know  from  the  passage 
of  Brantome  quoted  above,  Monluc  was  in  the  habit  of  doing. 
II  le  faisoit  beau  ouyr  parley  et  discourir  des  armes  et  de  la 
guerre... car  il  avoit  line  fort  belle  eloquence  militaire.  And  in 
fact  Monluc,  who  hated  writing  or  any  sort  of  clerk's  work, 
dictated  the  whole  of  his  Commcntaires.  At  the  siege  of 
Rabastens  (July  1570),  he  was  horribly  disfigured  by  a 
musket-wound  in  the  face2,  and  as  he  was  now  nearly  seventy 
he  was  relieved  of  his  government  of  Guyenne,  much  to  his 
chagrin,  which  he  expressed  in  a  long  letter  to  the  King. 
However,  as  in  the  similar  case  of  his  friend  Brantome,  his 
wound  led  to  his  writing  his  Memoirs  : 

Or  e'est  icy  la  fin  de  mon  livre  et  de  ma  vie  :  que  si  Dieu  me  la  continue 
plus  longuement,  quelqu'autre  escripra  le  reste,  si  je  me  trouve  en  lieu  ou 
je  face  quelque  chose  digne  de  moy,  ce  que  je  n'espere  pas,  me  sentant 
si  incommode  que  je  ne  pense  meshuy  pouvoir  jamais  plus  pointer  les 
armes.  J'ay  ceste  obligation  a  ceste  meschante  arquebusade  qui  m'a 
perce"  etfroisse  le  visage,  d'avoir  este"  cause  que  j'ay  dicte"ces  Commentaires, 
lesquels,  comme  je  pense,  dureront  apres  moy.  Je  prie  ceux  qui  les  liront 
de  ne  les  prendre  point  comme  escripts  de  la  main  d'ung  escrivain,  mais 
d'ung  vieux  soldat,  et  encore  gascon,  qui  a  escript  sa  vie  a  la  verite",  el  en 
guerrier  ;  tous  ceux  qui  pourteront  les  armes  y  prendront  exempli 
recognoistront  que  de  Dieu  seul  procede  l'heur  et  le  malheur  des  hommes. 
Et  pour-ce  que  nous  debvons  avoir  recours  a  luy  seul,  supplions-le  nous 
ayder  et  conseiller  en  nos  tribulations,  car  ce  monde  n'est  autre  chose,  et 
dont  les  grands  ont  aussi  bien  leur  part  que  les  petits  :  en  nani- 

feste  sa  grandeur,  veu  qu'il  n'y  a  roy  ny  prince  qui  en  soit  exempt,  el  qui 
n'aye  ordinairement  besoing  de  luy  et  de  son  secours. 

1  Ed.  Ruble,  11.  3. 

2  See  Brantome's  story  of  Lou  ttaz  Jc  Rabastain,  IV.  36. 


206  MEMOIRS    AND   LETTERS  [CH. 

Ne  desdaignds,  vous  qui  desires  suivre  le  train  des  armes,  au  lieu  de 
lire  des  Amadis  ou  Lancellots,  d'employer  quelqu'heure  a  me  cognoistre 
dedans  ce  livre  :  vous  apprendres  a  vous  cognoistre  vous  mesmes,  et  a 
vous  former  pour  estre  soldats  et  cappitaines,  car  il  faut  s^avoir  obeir  pour 
sgavoir  apres  bien  commander.  Cecy  n'est  pas  pour  les  courtisans  ou 
-ens  qui  ont  les  mains  polies,  ny  pour  ceux  qui  ayment  le  repos  ;  c'est 
pour  ceux  qui  par  lechemin  de  la  vertu,  aux  despens  de  leur  vie,  veulent 
eterniser  leur  nom,  comme,  en  despit  de  l'envie,  j'espere  que  j'auray  faict 
celuy  de  Montluc1. 

This  was  the  original  conclusion  of  the  Commentaires  when 
Monluc  laid  down  his  pen  in  1572,  but  in  1576  he  took  it  up 
again  to  relate  how  he  was  made  a  marshal  of  France  by  the 
new  king,  Henry  III,  and  how  at  the  age  of  seventy-four  he 
was  present  at  the  siege  of  Gensac.  This  was  his  last  fight 
and  the  occasion  of  his  last  harangue.  There  was  no  part  of 
his  body  except  his  right  arm  which  had  not  received  a 
wound  in  the  course  of  his  long  career.  It  was  time  to  hang 
up  his  sword.  He  even  thought  of  ending  his  days  in  a 
priory  on  the  Spanish  frontier.  The  exact  date  of  his  death 
is  unknown,  but  he  made  a  codicil  to  his  will  in  August,  1577, 
and  he  probably  died  soon  afterwards.  The  Commentaires 
were  published  with  some  alteration  and  suppressions  by 
Florimond  de  Raemond  in   1592. 

As  might  be  expected  from  an  old  man  trusting  entirely 
to  his  memory  and  restrained  by  no  considerations  of  literary 
form  the  Commentaires  are  full  of  digressions  and  repetitions 
and  tedious  relations  of  unimportant  incidents.  But  they  are 
instinct  with  life  and  movement,  and  the  style  is  remarkable. 
It  is  the  style  of  a  man  who  has  had  little  or  no  intercourse 
with  books,  but  who  has  a  natural  gift  for  clear  and  expressive 
speech.  His  thoughts  shape  themselves  in  language  without 
any  effort.  Those  who  hold  the  view  that  the  language  of 
literature  should  be  widely  differentiated  from  that  of  speech 
had  better  read  Monluc,  and  then  reconsider  their  position. 


1  Ed.  Ruble,  III.  518,  9. 


XXII I]  MEMOIRS    AND    LETTERS  207 


2.     L'Estoile,    Tavaiuies,  Sully. 

We  have  seen  that  Monluc,  the  only  one  of  the  five  writers 

hitherto  discussed  in  this  chapter  who  wrote  true  memoirs 

for  Margaret  of  Valois  confined  herself  to  certain  carefully 
arranged  passages  in  her  life— began  his  task  in  the  year  1570. 
In  1575  the  diplomatist,  Michel  de  Castelnau,  followed  in  his 
footsteps,  while  the  memoirs  of  the  parish  priest,  Claude 
Haton,  date  from  about  the  same  year.  There  are  indeed 
earlier  writings  of  the  kind,  which  are  included  in  the  various 
collections  of  French  memoirs,  such  as  the  Commentaires  of 
Francois  de  Rabutin,  the  first  books  of  which  were  published 
in  1555,  and  the  accounts  of  the  sieges  of  Metz  and  St 
Quentin  by  Salignac  and  Coligny  respectively.  But  these, 
like  the  Du  Bellay  memoirs,  of  which  mention  was  made  in 
the  first  volume,  are  of  the  nature  of  contemporary  history 
rather  than  true  memoirs.  It  is  therefore  from  about  the 
beginning  of  the  last  quarter  of  the  sixteenth  century  that  the 
fashion  of  memoir-writing,  which  has  contributed  to  French 
literature  so  many  important  and  delightful  works,  may  be 
said  to  date.  From  that  time  down  to  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century  it  flourished   with  unabated  vigour. 

Naturally  all  the  memoirs  of  our  period  do  not  belong  to 
literature.  Some  are  so  entirely  devoid  of  charm  or  indi- 
viduality that,  whatever  their  importance  for  the  political 
historian,  they  can  find  no  place  in  a  history  of  literature. 
But  there  are  others  which,  while  they  lack  the  genius  for 
expression  which  marks  the  style  of  the  five  writers  noticed  in 
the  first  section  of  this  chapter,  or  exhibit  it  only  at  spasmodic 
intervals,  yet  succeed  in  interesting  the  reader  by  the  talisman 
of  a  distinct  personality.  For  provided  a  writer  can  stamp 
his  work  with  the  seal  of  his  own  individuality,  provided 
he  can  give  it,  so  to  speak,  an  atmosphere  of  its  own,  he 
has  assured  for  it  a  place,  however  modest,  on  the  roll  "I 
literature. 


208 


MEMOIRS   AND    LETTERS  [CH. 


Such  a  place  we  may  certainly  grant  to  the  Memoires- 
Joumaux  of  Pierre  de  L'Estoile.  Grandson  of  the  distin- 
guished jurist  of  the  same  name,  and  son  of  a  president  of 
the  Court  of  Enquctes  in  the  Paris  Parliament,  he  himself 
purchased  a  post  in  the  Paris  Chancery.  But  his  real 
business  in  life  was  the  collection  of  engravings,  medals,  and 
books,  and  especially  of  pamphlets  and  broadsides.  He  also 
made  a  practice  of  noting  down  every  interesting  event, 
whether  trivial  or  important,  and  the  Journal  which  he  thus 
kept  for  thirty-seven  years,  from  1574  to  16111,  is  of  singular 
importance  for  the  student  of  the  social  and  political  life  of 
his  day.  If  he  was  too  ready  to  accept  unauthorised  gossip, 
he  was  at  least  an  honest  and  fair-minded  man,  with  no  strong 
political  bias  except  a  sincere  hatred  of  the  League.  Though 
he  has  no  pretentions  to  style,  writing,  as  he  said,  mihi  non 
aliis,  he  often  puts  things  in  a  humorous  way,  so  that  the  book 
is  an  amusing  one  to  read  in,  if  not  one  to  read  continuously. 
He  can  tell  a  story  with  spirit,  as  for  instance  that  of  the  death 
of  Bussy  d'Amboise2,  which,  like  other  passages  in  his  Journal, 
has  furnished  Dumas  with  hints  for  his  Homeric  narrative. 
The  cream  of  the  Journal  is  the  portion  which  covers  the 
period  of  the  League  from  the  death  of  Henry  III  to  the 
entry  of  Henry  IV  into  Paris3.  Happily  both  for  himself  and 
for  us  L'Estoile  was  able  during  these  years  of  gloom  and 
terror  to  see  the  humorous  side  of  things.  His  Journal  is  a 
perpetual  illustration  of  the  Satire  Menippee.  He  made  it  his 
particular  business  to  attend  or  get  reports  of  the  various 
sermons  which  the  League  preachers  thundered  forth  every 
Sunday,  and  they  furnish  a  good  deal  of  amusement.  He 
does  not  tell  us  much  about  himself  and  his  own  affairs,  and 
the  statement  which  he  makes  at  the  beginning  of  one  of  his 
manuscripts  that  we  shall  see  him  {com me  dit  le  s"  de  Montaigne 
en  ses  Essais,  parlant  de  soy)  tout  nud  et  tel  que  je  suis  is  a 
disappointing  one.      But  the  character  he  gives  himself — mon 

1  The  last  entry  is  on  Sept.  27,  161 1,  a  week  before  his  death.     He  was  born 
in  1546. 

2  I-   321. 

3  Vol.  v.  and  part  of  VI. 


XXIII]  MEMOIRS   AND   LETTERS  209 

ante  litre  et  tonte  mienne,  accoiistume'e  a  se  conduire  a  sa  mode, 
non  toittesfois  mescliante  ne  maligne,  mats  tvop  portce  a  une 
vaine  curiosite  et  liberte—xs,  faithfully  borne  out  in  his  Journal. 
From  this  time,  however  (July  1606),  it  becomes  rather  less 
interesting,  being  chiefly  an  account  of  his  purchases  of  books, 
or  in  his  own  words,  le  Magazin  de  mes  curiosites.  But  there 
is  an  interesting  entry  on  July  16 10,  in  which  he  tells  us  that 
he  is  a  lover  and  constant  reader  of  Montaigne.  He  died  in 
the  following  year,  the  close  of  his  life  having  been  clouded  by 
ill-health  and  poverty. 

Jean  de  Saulx,  seigneur  de  Tavannes,  is  a  sixteenth 
century  Saint-Simon1.  His  memoirs  are  nominally  a  history 
of  France  during  the  life-time  (1 509-1573)  of  his  father, 
Gaspard  de  Saulx,  who  distinguished  himself  at  the  battle  of 
Renty  (1554),  was  created  a  marshal  ( 1571),  and  was  one  of 
the  four — the  only  Frenchman  among  the  number — who  with 
Charles  IX  and  his  mother  formed  the  fatal  council  which 
decided  on  the  massacre  of  St  Bartholomew.  The  memoirs, 
for  which  Jean  de  Tavannes  used  his  father's  papers  and 
therefore  called  by  his  father's  name,  were  written  to  correct 
for  the  benefit  of  his  family  the  view  taken  by  historians  of 
his  father's  services,  but  they  are  interspersed  with  numerous 
long  digressions  consisting  partly  of  his  own  reminiscences 
and  partly  of  moral  reflexions2.  Begun  in  1601,  but  written 
for  the  most  part  between  16 16  and  1621,  they  carry  us  far 
beyond  the  limits  of  our  period  ;  but  just  as  Saint-Simon,  in 
spite  of  his  date,  belongs  to  the  seventeenth  century,  so 
his  prototype,  Jean  de  Tavannes,  is  of  the  sixteenth.  Like 
Saint-Simon  he  is  a  frondeur  and  a  pessimist,  and  like 
Saint-Simon  he  is  a  champion  of  the  privileges  and  purity  of 
the  French  nobility.  His  style  too,  though  without  the 
genius  of  Saint-Simon's,  recalls  it  both  in  its  disregard  of 
ordinary  rule  and  usage  and  in  its  brusque  and  dogmatic 
tone.     The  moral  reflexions  which  he  sows  so  plentifully  are 

1  Born  1555,  made  his  will  in  1629. 

2  Ce  sujet  remarqiiable  m'a  portc  a  des  considerations  <■!  conceptions  ■//"■  fay 
trouve  a  propos  cf  escrire  ;  et  y  ay  entremesli  atuunesfois  </i<f/,/i<.  moy 
mesme.     Preface. 

T.  II.  '  ' 


210 


MEMOIRS   AND    LETTERS  [CH. 


often  mere  truisms,  but  the  whole  book  is  at  once  a  valuable 
picture  of  the  age  and  the  unconscious  portrait  of  an  honest 
and  high-minded  man,  who  on  the  great  question  which 
divided  France  into  two  camps  was  on  the  side  of  toleration. 
La  religion  gist  en  creance  qui  ne  pent  estre  forcee  que  par  raison, 
et  non  parflammes.  His  elder  brother  Guillaume1  wrote  about 
the  same  time  (between  1620  and  1625)  dull  memoirs  relating 
to  events  from  1560  to  1596. 

Till  quite  recently  the  memoirs  of  Francois  de  Scepeaux, 
Marshal  de  Vieilleville2,  purporting  to  be  written  by  his 
secretary,  Vincent  Carloix,  held  in  the  eyes  of  both  historians 
and  literary  critics  a  position  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  those  of 
Tavannes.  But  it  has  been  shewn  by  the  Abbe  Marchand 
that  the  writer  of  these  memoirs  on  the  one  hand  attributes 
to  Vieilleville  various  important  acts  with  which  according 
to  trustworthy  contemporary  writers  he  had  nothing  to  do, 
and  on  the  other  omits  some  of  his  distinctions  and  is 
otherwise  imperfectly  informed  as  to  his  career.  M.  Marchand's 
almost  certain  conclusion  is  that  the  memoirs,  which  in  other 
respects  betray  ignorance  of  the  court  and  of  affairs,  are 
the  work,  not  as  they  pretend  to  be  of  Vincent  Carloix, 
but  of  some  one,  probably  a  chaplain,  attached  to  the  house- 
hold of  the  Marshal's  son-in-law,  the  Marquis  d'Espinay,  who 
composed  them  about  the  year  1590,  basing  his  narrative  on 
family  traditions  and  personal  reminiscences,  and  filling  in  the 
details  with  the  help  of  such  histories  and  memoirs  as  he 
found  in  his  patron's  library3. 

This  overthrow  of  Vieilleville's  memoirs  as  an  historical 
authority  should  not  necessarily  discredit  them  as  a  literary 
work.  For  they  are  written  in  an  easy  and  lively  if  negligent 
style,  and  with  some  power  of  dramatic  presentation.  But  the 
knowledge  that  they  are  neither  genuine  fact  nor  honest 
fiction  decidedly  diminishes  their  interest,  while  the  apparent 

1  1551— 1637. 

2  Vieilleville  died  on  the  last  day  of  November,  1571,  while  Charles  IX  was 
on  a  visit  to  him  at  his  chateau  of  Durtal  in  Anjou.  His  baton  was  at  once  given 
to  Tavannes,  already  a  supernumerary  marshal,  the  appointment  being  dated  on 
the  same  day. 

3  Marchand,  Vieilleville,  esp.  pp.  11—47. 


XXIII]  MEMOIRS   AND   LETTERS 


211 


naivete  of  the  writing,  with  its  love  of  old  words  and  ex- 
pressions, considerably  loses  its  charm  when  one  realises  that 
it  is  modelled  on  that  of  Le  Loyal  Serviteur  and  that  thus  in 
style  as  well  as  in  matter  the  whole  book  is  more  or  less  of  a 
pastiche1. 

The  idea  of  fathering  these  memoirs  on  Vincent  Carloix 
was  not  a  bad  one,  for  it  was  common  in  those  days  for  an 
unlettered  soldier  or  even  politician  to  employ  his  secretary  to 
write  an  account  of  his  memorable  actions.  To  this  practice 
we  owe  the  memoirs  of  Jean  Choisnin,  the  secretary  of  Jean 
de  Monluc,  Bishop  of  Valence  (a  younger  brother  of  Blaise), 
who  has  left  an  account  of  his  patron's  mission  to  Poland,  and 
those  of  Francois  de  Boyvin,  Baron  du  Villars,  the  secretary 
of  the  Marshal  de  Brissac,  who  wrote  a  diffuse  and  tiresome 
but  fairly  trustworthy  account  of  that  general's  campaigns 
against  the  imperialist  forces  in  Piedmont  from  1550  to  1559. 
Much  better  written,  in  a  simple  unaffected  style,  though  with 
the  usual  tendency  to  long  and  cumbrous  sentences,  are  the 
Commentaires,  already  mentioned,  of  Francois  de  Rabutin,  an 
ancestor  of  Bussy-Rabutin  and  of  the  same  family  as  M"'e  de 
Sevigne,  who  had  served  in  the  Netherland  campaigns  of  the 
same  period  in  the  company  formed  by  the  Due  de  Xevers. 
Reference  has  also  been  made  to  the  contemporary  accounts 
of  two  important  events  in  these  campaigns,  that  of  Un- 
successful defence  of  Metz  against  Charles  V,  written  by 
Bertrand  de  Salignac  de  la  Motte-Fenelon,  a  great-uncle  of 
Fenelon'-,  and  that  of  the  unsuccessful  but  heroic  defence  of 
St  Quentin  against  overpowering  numbers  by  Coligny, 
written  by  Coligny  himself.  The  latter  is  simp!}-  written. 
without  any  pretensions  to  style,  and  is  interesting  as  the 
personal  record  of  a  great  man. 

One  of  the  most  important  authorities  for  the  events  which 

1  They  were  first  published  in  1757  by  the  Jesuit  father,  Henri  Griffet.  An 
abridgement  had  previously  been  given  by  the  Dominican  father,  Du  Paz,  in  his 
Hist,  genialogique  de  plusieurs  maisons  illustres  de  Bretagne,  16 19. 

-  Le  Siige  de  Metz,  1552. 

3  First  published  in  i64?  in  a  volume  with  the  French  translation  of  the 
Latin  lite. 

1  I       ! 


2i2 


MEMOIRS   AND   LETTERS  [CH. 


led  to  the  wars  of  religion  and  for  the  first  two  wars  is  the 
diplomatist  Michel  de  Castelnau,  whose  memoirs,  written  in 
England  between  1575  and  1585,  cover  the  period  from  1559 
to  1 5691.  But  though  they  are  on  the  whole  well-written, 
and  though  the  writer  confines  himself  to  his  own  experiences, 
callin"-  his  work  Disconrs  des  choses  que  fay  veues  ct  maniees, 
the  lack  of  colour  and  passion  which  makes  them  valuable  to 
the  historian  renders  them  uninteresting  as  literature2. 

The  personal  note  which  is  absent  from  Castelnau's 
memoirs  gives  interest  to  those  of  Jean  de  Mergy,  a 
Protestant  gentleman  of  Champagne  in  the  service  of  the 
Comte  de  La  Rochefoucauld,  with  whom  he  was  taken 
prisoner  at  St  Quentin3.  He  fought  at  Dreux  and  Montcon- 
tour,  and  was  at  Paris  during  the  massacre,  when  his  master 
was  murdered.  He  relates  his  experiences  in  a  simple,  un- 
affected fashion,  writing  when  he  was  an  old  man  of  seventy- 
seven.  The  memoirs  are  very  short  and  only  mention  a  few 
events  later  than   1572. 

We  have  the  account  of  another  Protestant's  escape  from 
the  massacre  in  Mme  du  Plessis-Mornay's  life  of  her  husband. 
But  in  spite  of  the  important  part  that  Mornay  played  in 
the  political  and  theological  arena  this  narrative  of  two 
singularly  noble  lives  is  disappointing.  It  is  too  staid  and 
unemotional.  Even  the  account  of  how  the  writer  and  her 
future  husband  escaped  from  the  massacre  has  little  life  in 
it.  Moreover  the  style,  with  its  long  involved  sentences,  is 
heavy  and  often  obscure.  Mme  de  Mornay  had  not  the  pen  of 
a  Mrs  Hutchinson. 

Yet  another  Protestant,  Maximilien  de  Bethune,  Baron  de 
Rosny,  Due  de  Sully4,  has  told  the  tale  of  how  he  was  saved 
on  the  day  of   St   Bartholomew,  being    then  only  a  boy  of 

1  He  succeeded  Salignac  as  ambassador. 

2  The  memoirs  of  Claude  Haton  of  Provins  (ed.  F.  Bourquelot  in  the  Coll. 
des  Doc.  inedits,  2  vols.  1857)  are  valuable  to  the  historian  of  the  religious  wars  as 
representing  the  point  of  view  of  a  provincial  priest,  and  as  giving  much  in- 
formation for  the  district  in  which  the  writer  lived,  but  neither  the  style  nor  the 
manner  of  presenting  the  facts  entitles  them  to  be  regarded  as  literature. 

3  Michaud  and  Poujoulat,  IX.  ;  Petitot,  XXXIV.  ;   Buchon. 

4  1560—1641. 


XXIII]  MEMOIRS   AND   LETTERS  213 

twelve.  Of  all  the  memoirs  noticed  in  the  second  part  of  this 
chapter  his  are  the  most  interesting.  Yet  the  form  he  gave 
to  them  might  well  have  proved  fatal  to  their  success.  Instead 
of  being  written,  like  most  memoirs,  in  the  first  person,  or 
even  in  the  third,  he  has  made  his  secretaries,  four  in  number, 
relate  to  him  by  way  of  reminder  his  own  actions — and  his 
own  virtues.     As  for  instance : 

De  ce  pas  vous  en  allastes  voir  mademoiselle  de  Courtenay,  envers 
laquelle  vous  et  vos  gentils-hommes  fistes  si  bien  valoir  ce  que  c'estoit 
passe,  que  cette  belle  et  sage  fille  vous  prit  en  affection,  et  peu  apres  vous 
l'espousastes  :  l'amour  et  gentilesse  de  laquelle  vous  retint  toute  l'annee 
1584  en  vostre  nouveau  mesnage,  ou  vous  commencastes  a  tesmoigner, 
comme  vous  avez  desja  bien  fait  auparavant  en  toute  vostre  vie,  en  la 
conduite  de  vostre  maison,  une  ceconomie,  un  ordre  et  un  mesnage 
merveilleux. 

Another  stumbling-block  in  the  path  of  the  reader  is  the 
enormous  length  of  the  sentences.  I  have  come  across  one 
of  five  hundred  and  seventy-six  words,  and  another  which 
fills  exactly  a  whole  double-column  page  in  Michaud  and 
Poujoulat's  edition,  and  must  contain  at  least  nine  hundred 
words.  And  these  are  genuine  sentences,  the  length  of  which 
does  not  depend  merely  on  punctuation.  Happily  the 
memoirs  are  not  written  entirely  in  this  fashion.  At  an  earl)' 
stage  in  his  career  Sully  evidently  began  to  write  down  records 
of  important  events  in  which  he  had  played  a  part  by  the  side 
of  his  master,  and  these,  with  letters  and  other  documents, 
formed  the  basis  of  the  first  draft  which  his  secretaries  made 
under  his  directions  and  superintendence  between  his  retire- 
ment in  161 1  and  the  year  1617.  Thus  the  accounts  of  his 
most  stirring  experiences,  such  as  the  siege  of  Cahors  or  the 
battles  of  Coutras  and  Ivry,  have  a  ring  of  reality  which,  in 
spite  of  their  somewhat  grotesque  form,  impresses  them  upon 
the  imagination.  As  Henry  IV  said,  Sully's  style  sent  son 
soldat,  et  son   homme  d'Etat1.      Moreover   his  conversations 

1  Quoted  by  Sainte-Beuve,  Cattseries,  vm.  192.  We  have  an  undoubted 
specimen  of  Sully's  style  in  c.  vi,  which  the  secretaries  copied  from  a  papei  in  In- 
writing. 


_^l4  MEMOIRS   AND   LETTERS  [CH. 

with  Henry  IV  and  various  scenes  in  which  either  the  King 
or  his  minister  plays  a  part  are  given  in  the  form  of  dialogue, 
and  are  admirably  done.  Sully,  like  his  fellow-Huguenot, 
D'Aubigne,  is  an  excellent  raconteur,  and  as  he  says  himself 
is  fond  of  introducing  a  petit  conte  pour  rirc  an  milieu  de  tant 
de  choses  sinenses.  One  of  his  best  stories  is  the  inimitable 
conversation  between  M.  de  Roquelaure  and  the  Archbishop 
of  Rouen,  the  King's  illegitimate  brother,  who  had  some 
scruples  about  marrying  the  King's  sister,  Catharine,  who  was 
a  Protestant,  to  the  Due  de  Bar1. 

In  spite  of  Sully's  egregious  vanity  he  is  not  the  hero  of 
his  memoirs ;  that  part  is  reserved  for  Henry  IV.  With 
such  a  hero  the  book  could  hardly  fail  to  be  interesting,  but 
it  should  be  remembered  in  Sully's  favour  as  a  writer  that 
the  firm  hold  which  the  Bearnais  has  taken  of  the  imagina- 
tions and  affections  of  the  French  people  is  in  a  large  measure 
owing  to  Sully's  presentment  of  him.  Had  the  portrait  been 
drawn  by  the  hand  of  a  courtly  flatterer  it  would  have  failed 
of  its  effect ;  but  it  convinces  by  its  fidelity  and  its  realism-. 
The  portrait  which  Sully  has  left  of  himself  is  a  less  pleasing 
one.  We  see  him  vain,  pompous,  arrogant,  and  rough,  jealous 
of  his  colleagues,  greedy  of  honours  and  money,  but  able, 
intelligent,  abounding  in  energy  and  common  sense,  fearless 
morally  as  well  as  physically,  and  above  all  things  a  loyal 
servant,  loyal  to  his  King,  loyal  to  France. 

He  was  no  doubt  a  disagreeable  and  difficult  colleague, 
but  during  those  years  of  misrule  which  intervened  between 
the  death  of  Henry  IV  and  the  accession  of  Richelieu  to 
power  (1624)  it  was  a  grave  misfortune  for  France  that  she 
should  have  been  deprived,  except  on  rare  occasions,  of  Sully's 

1  Petitot,  in.  269  ff.  ;  Michaud  and  Poujoulat,  XVI.  306  ff. 

2  As  a  supplement  to  Sully's  memoirs  should  be  read  those  of  Claude  Groulard, 
first  president  of  the  Parliament  of  Rouen  from  1585,  a  scholar  who  had  a  notable 
library  of  Greek  classics,  and  who  was  a  thoroughly  honest  and  high-minded  man. 
His  account  of  his  various  visits  to  the  Court  and  of  his  interviews  with  Henry  IV 
help  one  to  realise  the  extraordinary  faculty  which  that  monarch  had  of  making 
himself  agreeable  to  people  of  every  sort  and  condition.  Groulard  was  about  the 
same  age  as  the  King  and  died  two  and  a  half  years  before  him.  His  memoirs 
occupy  about  half  the  49th  volume  of  Petitot's  collection. 


XXIII]  MEMOIRS    AND    LETTERS  215 

counsels1.  But  though  he  survived  his  master  for  thirty-one 
years  he  lived  chiefly  in  retirement  at  one  of  his  numerous 
chateaux,  ordering  his  household  with  a  pomp  and  magni- 
ficence which  would  not  have  discredited  Louis  XIVs.  He 
spent  much  of  his  time  in  editing  his  memoirs  with  the  help 
of  his  four  secretaries,  but  it  was  not  till  the  year  [638  that  the 
first  instalment,  in  two  volumes,  was  issued  from  his  private 
press  at  the  chateau  of  Sully.  The  third  and  fourth  volumes 
were  published  at  Paris  in  1662,  twenty-one  years  after  his 
death,  under  the  supervision  of  Le  Laboureur.  In  [745  the 
Abbe  de  l'Ecluse  des  Loges  brought  out  an  edition,  arranged 
and  expurgated  for  the  use  of  eighteenth  century  readers  and 
good  Catholics.  It  is  an  agreeable  book  and  has  the  advan- 
tage of  being  written  in  the  first  person,  but  it  is  not  Sully's 
memoirs3. 

Though  Sully's  memoirs  were  not  published  even  in  part 
till  long  after  the  close  of  our  period,  like  those  of  Tavannes 
they  belong  emphatically  to  the  sixteenth  century.  This  is 
equally  the  case  with  the  admirable  Vie  a  ses  enfants  of 
Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  which  he  did  not  begin  to  write  till  the 
year  1623,  four  years  after  his  fellow-Protestant.  Henri,  Hue 
de  Rohan,  had  begun  the  reminiscences  which  may  he  said  to 
inaugurate  the  series  of  seventeenth-century  memoirs.  Hut 
I  shall  reserve  the  consideration  of  D'Aubigne's  book  for  a 
later  chapter  devoted  to  the  whole  work  of  that  remarkable 
man. 


1  In  January,   161 1,  he  resigned  the  ministry  of  finance  and  tin-  government 
of  the  Bastille,  but  retained  the  superintendence  of  the  artillery,  fortificati 
roads,  and  the  government  of  Poitou  and  La  Rochelle. 

2  See  Supplement  aux  mimoires  de  Sully  at  the  end  of  tin-  Abbe"  de  I'l 

edition.      Sully's  surgeon  told  his  son  that  <>n  ■  occasion   lie  had  eight) 

among  the  servants  at  Villebon,  Sully's  favourit  il  'de. 

without  noticing  anything  amLs  with  the  service. 

a  3  vols.  London  (Paris!,   1745  ;  8  vols.  ib.  1747. 


2i6  MEMOIRS   AND   LETTERS  [CH. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Editions. 

Pierre  de  Bourdeilles,  Abbe  de  Brantome,  Memoires^  8  vols. 
Leyden,  chez  Jean  Sambix  le  Jeune,  1665-66  (a  defective  and  incomplete 
edition,  published  at  the  Hague  by  Jean  and  Daniel  Steucker,  without  the 
Discours sur  les  duels,  first  published  in  1722,  and  the  Rodomontades,  first 
published  in  the  15  vol.  edition  of  1740.  See  Willems,  Les  Elzevier, 
no.  1369).  (Euvres  completes  [ed.  Monmerque"],  8  vols.  1822-24  ;  13  vols. 
1858-95  {Bib.  Elze'v.) ;  ed.  L.  Lalanne  for  the  Societe  de  Fhistoire  de 
France^  11  vol.  1864-82.  Baroness  James  de  Rothschild  has  recently 
presented  to  the  Bib.  Nat.  13  vols,  of  the  MS  of  Brantome's  first  draft. 

Marguerite  de  Valois,  Memoires,  ed.  Auger  de  Mauleon,  1628. 
Mimoires  et  lettres,  ed.  F.  Guessard  for  the  Soc.  de  Phist.  de  France,  1842. 

Henri  IV,  Recneil  de  lettres  missives  {Documents  ine'dits),  ed.  Berger 
de  Xivrey,  9  vols.  1843-76  ;  Lettres  intimes,  ed.  L.  Dussieux,  1876. 

Blaise  de  Monluc,  Commentaire,  ed.  Florimond  de  Raemond, 
Bordeaux,  1592  ;  Commentaires  et  Lettres,  ed.  A.  de  Ruble  for  Soc.  de 
I' hist,  de  France,  5  vols.  1864-76. 

FRANCOIS  DE  LA  NOUE,  Discours politiqites  et  militaires,  Basle,  1587. 
Discours  xxvi  has  often  been  published  separately  under  the  title  of 
Memoires  de  La  None. 

Pierre  de  l'Estoile,  Me'moires-Journaux,  edd.  G.  Brunet,  A. 
Champollion,  E.  Halphen,  P.  Lacroix,  Ch.  Read,  Tamizey  de  Larroque, 
and  Ed.  Tricotel,  12  vols.  1875-96  (the  first  complete  edition;.  .See  XII. 
xvii-xxix  for  a  full  bibliography  of  the  manuscripts  and  editions. 

The  journal  first  appeared  in  the  form  of  an  extract  made  by  L'Estoile's 
friend,  Pierre  Dupuy,  under  the  title  of  Journal des  choses  aduenues  durant 
le  regne  de  Henri  IIL,  1621.  In  the  Memoires  pour  servir  a  Vhistoire  de 
France,  1515-1611,  2  vols.,  Cologne,  1719  [ed.  Denis  Godefroy],  the 
Journal  de  Henri  /F  was  added,  but  with  a  lacuna  for  the  years  1594- 
1606.  This  was  partially  supplied  in  subsequent  editions  —Journal  du 
regne  de  Henri  IV,  2  vols.  1732  [ed.  L'abbe  d'Olivet]  ;  Supplement  au 
journal  du  regne  de  Henri  IV,  1736  [1735]  >  Journal  du  regne  de  Henri  IV, 
ed.  C.  B.  A.  [C.  Bouges,  an  Augustiman  father],  4  vols.,  The  Hague, 
1 74 1  ;  Journal  de  Henri  III,  5  vols.,  The  Hague,  1744  [ed.  Lenglet  du 
Fresnoy]  ;  Journal  inedit  du  regne  de  Henri  IV,  ed.  E.  Halphen,  1862. 

Finally  in  1899  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale  acquired  a  new  manuscript 
of  the  Journal  du  regne  de  Henri  IV,  which  contains  several  additional 
passages,  added  by  the  hand  of  Pierre  de  l'Estoile  himself.  These  have 
been  printed  by  H.  Omont,  Registre-Journal  de  Pierre  de  l'Estoile  (1 574- 
89)  in  the  Memoires  de  la  Soc.  de  I  Hist,  de  Paris  et  de  I '  Ile-de-France, 
XXVii.  (1900),  pp.   1-38. 

Memoires  de  tres  noble  et  Ires  illustre  Gaspard  de  Saulx-Tavannes 
[at  the  chateau  of  Lugny,  1653]  ;  there  is  an  earlier  edition  privately 
printed  at  the  chateau  of  Sully  in   1617. 

Memoires  de  la  vie  de  FRANCOIS  DE  SCEPEAUX,  SIRE  DE  VlEILLE- 


XXIII]  MEMOIRS    AND    LETTERS  21J 

ville... composes  par  Vincent  Carloix  son  secretaire,  ed.  Le  Pere  Griffet, 
5  vols.  1757. 

Francois  de  Rabutin,  Commentaires  des  dernieres  guerres  de  la 
Gaule  Belgique,  1554  (6  books);  1558;  1574  (11  books).  Michel  de 
Castelnau,  Les  Me'moires,  1621  ;  ed.  J.  Le  Laboureur,  2  vols.  1659,  and 
3  vols.,  Brussels,  173 1  (best  edition).  Jean  de  Mergey,  Mimoires,  ed. 
Nicolas  Camuzat  in  Meslanges  historiques,  Troves,  1619.  Mvl  DE 
MORNAY,  Mimoires,  ed.  Mme  de  Witt  for  the  Soc.  de  /'/list,  de  France, 
2  vols.  1868-69. 

Maximilien  de  Bethune,  Due  de  Sully,  Mimoires  des  sages  et 
roya/es  (Economies  d  Estat,  domestiques,  po/itiques  et  militaires  de  Henry 
le  Grand,  I.  11.  [at  the  chateau  of  Sully,  1738]  ;  III.  IV.  Paris,  1662. 

Most  of  the  memoirs  of  the  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  will 
be  found  in  the  principal  collections  of  French  memoirs,  viz.  Petitot  and 
Monmerque,  ire  se'rie,  XX-LII,  2me  se'rie,  I-IX  (Sully)  ;  Michaud  and 
Poujoulat,  Vll-XVIIl  ;  Buchon,  Choix  de  Chroniques  et  Me'moires  sur 
Vhistoire  de  France,  9  vols. 

Translations. 

Spanish  Rhodomontades  by  Mr  Ozell,  1741. 

The  Memorials  of  Margaret  de  Va/oys...  translated  by  R.  Codrington 
(the  translator  of  the  Heptameron),  1641.  There  are  two  recent  trans- 
lations, one  by  "Violet  Fane"  (Lady  Currey),  1892,  and  the  other  by 
an  anonymous  translator,   1895. 

The  Commentaries  of  Messire  Blaise  de  Monluc,  1674  [by  Charles 
Cotton]. 

The  Politicke  and  militarie  discourses  of  the  Lord  de  la  Noue.... 
Translated  by  E.  A.  [Edward  Aggas],   1587  [1588]. 

TO    BE   CONSULTED. 

L.   Pingaud,  Brantome  historien  in  Rev.  des  quest,  hist.   xix.   1 S6  ff. , 
1876.     L.    Lalanne,   Brantome,   sa   vie  et  ses  e'erits,    1896.      Brantome, 
CEuvres,    IV.   (Monluc),   VII.   (La    Noue),   VIII.    (Marguerite   de    Valois). 
Sainte-Beuve,  Causeries  dit  Lundi,  VI.  (Marguerite),  1852  ;  XI.     Monluc, 
Henry  IV),  1855.      The  latter  article  is  a  review  of  E.  Jung,  Henri  1 '/', 
e'erivain,   1855.      H.   Hauser,   Francois  de  la  None,   1892  (an  admirable 
piece  of  work),  and  Sur  T  authenticity  des  Discou  is  de  la  Noue  in    \ 
hist.  Liu.  301  ff.  (1893)  (disposes  of  D'Aussy's  hypothesis  that  the  literarj 
merit  of  the  Discours  is  chiefly  due  to  their  editor,   Philippe  du  Fresne 
Canaye);  A.  Sayous,  Etudes  litte'raires  sur  les  icrivains  franqau  de  la 
reformation,   II.   (La    Noue),    1841.      L.    Pingaud,  Les  Saulx-Tavannes, 
1876.      Ch.  Marchand  (L'abbe),  Vieilleville  et  ses  mimoires^    1893      Ch. 
Pfister,  Les  (Economies  royales  de  Sully  in  Rev.  hist.   1.1  v.   300  ff.,   1 
Sainte-Beuve,  Causeries  du  Lundi,  vm.  134  ff,  1853    Sull)  .     A.  Roil 
Histoiredu  regne  de  Henri  IV,  1857  ;  3rd  ed.   1866,  IV.  -'7-  ff.    esp    t-i 
P.  de  l'Estoile  and  Sully). 


CHAPTER    XXIV 


HISTORY  AND    POLITICAL   SCIENCE 

It  would  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  draw  a  hard  and 
fast  line  between  memoirs  and  contemporary  history,  and  to 
frame  a  concise  definition  of  the  one  which  should  completely 
exclude  the  other.  As  a  rule,  no  doubt,  the  writer  of  memoirs 
confines  himself  to  a  record  of  events  in  which  he  has  personally 
taken  part,  whether  as  actor  or  as  spectator  ;  but  if  he  happen 
to  be  a  great  statesman  or  a  great  captain  his  record  becomes, 
like  that  of  Julius  Caesar,  the  most  valuable  of  contemporary 
histories.  Moreover  the  rule  is  no  absolute  one.  Saint-Simon, 
for  instance,  the  prince  of  memoir-writers,  by  no  means 
confines  himself  to  that  Court  life  which  lay  within  his  own 
experience,  but  introduces  accounts  of  campaigns  and  political 
events  in  which  he  played  no  part.  Generally  speaking, 
however,  it  may  be  said  that  the  personal  element  is  the 
making  of  memoirs.  But  must  we  hold  with  the  modern 
historian  that  it  is  the  marring  of  history  ?  Can  history, 
which  deals  with  men  and  human  actions,  entirely  exclude  the 
personal  element  ?  And  if  it  cannot,  is  it  "  a  science,  no  less 
and  no  more"  ?  At  any  rate,  whatever  it  may  become  in  the 
future,  it  has  not  been  so  in  the  past.  Even  if  the  historian 
has  been  able  to  suppress  his  own  personality  his  work  has 
reflected  the  thought  and  passions  of  the  age  in  which  he 
wrote.  It  is  this  indeed  which,  quite  apart  from  all  questions 
of  style,  justifies  us  in  treating  history  as  a  branch  of  literature. 


CH.  XXIV]        HISTORY    AND    POLITICAL    SCIENCE  219 

For  it  resembles  literature  at  any  rate  in  being  a  document 
for  the  age  in  which  it  was  written1. 

This  is  especially  the  case  with  the  contemporary  histories 
written  in  France  during  the  stormy  period  of  her  Religious 
Wars.  The  writers  may  use  their  best  endeavours  to  be  not 
only  truthful  but  impartial,  but  they  cannot  escape  from  the 
bias  of  their  religion,  and  it  is  just  this  bias  which  gives  their 
work  an  abiding  interest  and  value.  The  Protestant  bias,  for 
instance,  is  well  represented  in  the  narratives  of  Pierre  de  la 
Place,  President  of  the  Cour  des  Aides,  who  perished  in  the 
massacre  of  St  Bartholomew,  and  of  Louis  Regnier  de  la 
Planche,  a  follower  of  the  house  of  Montmorency.  La  Place's 
work,  which  deals  with  the  period  from  the  death  of  Henry  II 
(July  1559)  to  the  end  of  1 561,  was  published  in  1565  ;  that 
of  La  Planche,  which  is  confined  to  the  short  reign  of 
Francis  II  (July  1559  to  December  1560),  appeared  in  1576. 
La  Place's  work  is  more  impartial,  more  concise,  more  accurate, 
in  a  word  superior  from  the  historical  point  of  view.  But 
La  Planche's  book  is  better  reading.  His  lively  and  forcible 
style,  his  strong  Protestant  bias,  his  hatred  of  the  Guises,  his 
readiness  to  accept  mere  rumour,  and  his  love  of  detail,  are 
all  qualities  which  make  for  literature.  Moreover  he  is 
generally  well  informed,  he  has  considerable  political  insight, 
and  his  conception  of  the  functions  of  a  historian  is  just  and 
enlightened  : 

Car  a  vray  dire,  le  fruict  de  l'histoire  ne  gist  pas  au  simple  recit  de  ce 
qui  s'est  dit  ou  fait  :  mais  a  bien  savoir  considerer  les  causes  et  k-s  issues 
de  ce  qui  y  est  recite-  pour  en  faire  son  prourit,  apprenant  par  les  fautes 
d'autruy,  et  se  faconnant  par  l'exemple  des  choses  bien  vert ueu semen t 
entreprinses  et  executes,  en  quoi  celuy  qui  escrit  l'histoire  nous  peut 
principalement  aider,  pourveu  que  la  raison  jointe  a  la  verite'  gouverne 
son  entendement  vuide  de  toute  passion  2. 

1  The  same  idea,  better  expressed,  will  be  found  in  Professor  Bury's  Inaugural 
Lecture  (Cambridge,  1903).  He  says  that  the  histories  of  each  age  "belong  to  th<- 
documents  which  mirror  the  form  and   features  of  th< 

instances  Tacitus's  Annals  and  Treitschke's  Histot  imy. 

2  Ed.  Mennechet,  I.  xv.     The  Advertisement  au  lecteur,  from  which  th( 
passage   is   taken,   was  doubtless  written   by   La   Planche  himself.     Prof.    1 
doubts  his  authorship  of  the  whole  work  (History  of  the  Huguenots,  1.  410.  n 
but  his  argument  seems  to  me  unsound. 


220 


HISTORY   AND    POLITICAL   SCIENCE  [CH. 


On  the  other  hand  the  absence  of  any  such  philosophical 
conception  of  history  forbids  us  to  assign  a  higher  rank  than 
that  of  a  chronicle  to  the  Chronologie  novenaire  (1589 — 1597)1 
and  the  Chronologie  septenaire  (1598— 1604)2  of  Pierre  Victor 
Palma  Cayet,  and  though  his  patient  collection  of  facts  and 
his  general  trustworthiness  make  him  a  valuable  source  of 
information  he  has  no  charm  of  style  to  atone  for  his  other 
defects. 

The  first  attempt  in  France  to  extend  the  philosophical 
treatment  of  contemporary  history  beyond  her  own  borders 
was  made  by  another  Protestant,  Henri  Lancelot  Voisin  de 
La  Popeliniere,  a  gentleman  of  Guyenne,  who  in  1575  played 
an  important  part  in  the  recapture  from  the  Catholics  of  the 
He  de  Re,  opposite  to  La  Rochelle.  His  work,  which  appeared 
first  in  1 57 1  and  then  in  a  complete  form  in  1581,  comprises 
the  history  of  events  in  France  and  the  neighbouring  countries 
from  1550  to  1577.  His  somewhat  pretentious  preface  shews 
that  he  had  a  high  conception  of  the  duties  of  a  historian, 
and  certainly  he  spared  neither  pains  nor  money  in  the 
execution  of  his  task3.  But  unfortunately  his  language  is 
neither  picturesque  nor  clear,  nor,  in  spite  of  D'Aubigne's 
praise,  particularly  correct4.  Moreover  the  pecuniary  help 
which  he  received  from  Catharine  de'  Medici  made  it  im- 
possible for  him  to  be  perfectly  truthful  in  matters  which 
concerned  the  royal  family.  One  would  not,  for  instance, 
suppose  from  his  account  of  the  massacre  that  either  Catharine 
or  Charles  IX  was  in  any  way  responsible  for  it5.  He  died 
in  1608  in  great  poverty6,  having  lived  to  see  the  first  instal- 
ment of  a  new  history  of  the  period  which  he  had  treated. 

1  3  vols.   1608.  2   1606. 

3  D'Aubigne  says  he  spent  the  whole  of  his  patrimony  on  it.  (Preface  to 
Histoire  Universelle. ) 

4  Son  langage  bien  fratifois  qui  sent  ensemble  Vhomme  de  let/res  et  Vhomme  de 
guerre,      (ibid.) 

'  It  is  characteristic  of  the  views  of  his  age  with  regard  to  literary  property 
that  though  he  mentions  in  his  preface  his  indebtedness  to  Belleforest  and  the 
Histoire  ecclisiastique  he  says  nothing  about  La  Place,  whose  work  he  has  in- 
corporated almost  bodily  and  with  very  few  additions. 

8  Mourust  d'une  maladie  asses  ordinaire  aux  hommes  de  lettres  et  vertueux 
comme  il estoit,a  scavoir :  de  misere et  de  necessity.    P.  de  l'Estoile,  Journal,  IX.  189. 


XXIV]  HISTORY    AND    POLITICAL   SCIENCE 


->  ->  J 


The  author,  Jacques  Auguste  de  Thou,  was  the  son  of 
Christophe  de  Thou,  first  president  of  the  Paris  Parliament,  and 
was  himself  first  a  councillor  and  then  a  president  a  mortier  of 
the  same  Parliament.  Born  in  1553  he  was  still  quite  young 
when  his  friend  Pierre  Pithou  inspired  him  with  the  idea  of 
writing  a  history  of  his  own  times,  and  before  long  he  set  to 
work  to  collect  materials  and  otherwise  prepare  himself, 
especially  by  travel,  for  his  great  task.  In  1593  he  began  the 
actual  writing,  and  the  first  part,  consisting  of  eighteen  books 
and  treating  of  events  from  1546  to  1560,  was  published  in 
16041.  It  was  his  intention  to  carry  the  work  down  to  the 
death  of  Henry  IV,  but  his  own  death,  which  took  place  in 
161 7,  prevented  the  completion  of  his  design.  The  fifth  and 
last  part,  published  in  1620,  stops  at  the  year  1607. 

The  fact  that  De  Thou  wrote  in  Latin  is  noteworthy.  It 
shews  that  in  spite  of  the  great  progress  which  French  prose 
had  made  during  the  sixteenth  century,  in  spite  of  Rabelais 
and  Calvin  and  Amyot  and  Montaigne,  it  was  not  yet  regarded 
as  a  fitting  language  for  a  work  of  learning.  Yet  from 
Villehardouin  downwards  works  of  a  historical  character  had 
been  written  in  French,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  it  was  a 
historian,  Claude  de  Seyssel,  who  at  the  very  beginning  of  the 
sixteenth  century  had  urged  the  necessity  of  providing  in- 
struction for  those  who  were  ignorant  of  Latin,  and  who  in 
the  prosecution  of  his  design  had  spent  many  years  oi  his 
life  in  the  translation  of  Greek  historians2.  Doubtless  also 
De  Thou  had  in  view  the  satisfaction  of  submitting  the  result 
of  his  labours  to  a  competent  court,  and  preferred  the  applause 
of  learned  Europe  to  that  of  unlearned  France.  If  so  he  had 
his  reward.  His  work  was  received  with  respect  and  ad- 
miration by  the  whole  learned  world,  and  at  once  achieved  an 
European  reputation  which  lasted  for  nearly  two  centuries. 
The  only  exception  to  the  general  chorus  of  approval 

1  See  a  Latin  letter  (printed  in  Buckley's  edition  and  translated  in  Collii 
Life)  written  by  De  Thou  to  President  Jeannin  in   1611,   in  which  b< 
account  of  the  origin  and  growth  of  his  work.     The  account   in  his  Memoirs  i 
materially  the  same. 

2  See  1.  35,  36. 


HISTORY    AND    POLITICAL   SCIENCE  [CH. 

the  Congregation  of  the  Index,  which  after  the  appearance 
of  the  fourth  part  formally  condemned  the  work1.  Their 
action  was  an  honourable  testimony  to  De  Thou's  honesty 
and  impartiality,  but  it  caused  him  much  trouble  and  annoy- 
ance, for  it  had  been  his  especial  care  to  write  his  book  in  a 
conciliatory  spirit2.  Indeed  his  endeavour  to  avoid  giving 
offence  either  to  Catholic  or  Protestant,  or  in  any  way  to 
endanger  the  peace  created  by  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  has 
caused  modern  critics  to  accuse  him  of  timidity. 

In  writing  in  Latin  he  missed  a  great  opportunity.  Had 
he  written  in  French,  though  modern  criticism  would  still 
have  found  his  work  inadequate  as  a  scientific  history,  he 
might  at  any  rate  have  enriched  French  literature,  as  his 
contemporary,  Mariana,  enriched  Spanish3,  with  an  enduring 
monument.  Time  has  avenged  the  French  language.  De 
Thou's  choice  of  Latin  has  not  only  deprived  him  of  an 
honourable  place  on  the  roll  of  French  men  of  letters,  but  has 
injured  his  reputation  as  a  historian.  The  annalistic  arrange- 
ment of  events,  the  absence  of  dates  and  the  rhetorical 
language  which  he  adopted  in  imitation  of  Livy,  are  fatal  to 
the  scientific  method  which  the  modern  view  of  history 
demands.  On  the  other  hand,  his  successor  and  admiring 
rival,  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  writing  in  French,  at  least  pro- 
duced a  considerable  literary  work.  Even  from  the  historical 
point  of  view  it  is  a  question  whether  the  contemporary 
atmosphere  which  his  narrative  breathes  does  not  compensate 
for  the  greater  accuracy  of  De  Thou's.  But  I  must  leave  the 
Histoire  Universelle  for  a  later  chapter,  in  which  I  shall  treat 
of  D'Aubigne's  multifarious  work  as  a  whole. 

The  humanistic  spirit  manifested  itself  also  in  the  field  of 
non-contemporary  history.  I  have  already  mentioned  that 
the  first  attempt  to  write  a  history  of  France  after  classical 
models  was   that  of  the  Italian  Paolo  Emilio,  and  that   his 

1  See  A.  de  Ruble's  edition  of  D'Aubigne's  Histoire  universelle,  I.  376   ff.  ; 
F.   H.   Reusch,  Der  Index  der  verbotenen  BiicAer,   II.    192  ff.     Bonn,    1885. 

2  For  the  eirenical  character  of  his  history  see  A.  Rebelliau,  Bossuet.  kistorien 
de  Protestantisme,  268  n.1,  189 1. 

'■'•  Mariana's  History  of  Spain  (down  to  1 516)  was  published  in  Latin  in  159a, 
and  in  Spanish,  translated  and  revised  by  the  author  himself,  in  i6or. 


XXIV]  HISTORY    AND    POLITICAL   SCIENCE  223 

work,  which  was  written  in  Latin,  appeared  in  a  French 
translation  in  15561.  Meanwhile  the  Grandes  chroniques  of 
Gaguin  and  Gilles  retained  a  certain  popularity  and  found 
continuators  in  Denis  Sauvage  (1553),  Francois  de  Belleforest 
(1 573),  Gabriel  Chappuis  (1585),  and  Jean  Savaron  (1621). 

Three  years  after  the  appearance  of  Belleforest's  work 
Bernard  de  Girard,  seigneur  du  Haillan2,  a  gentleman  of 
Bordeaux  and  a  converted  Protestant,  produced  the  first 
modern  French  history.  He  had  been  encouraged  in  his  task 
by  Charles  IX,  who  in  1571  appointed  him  historiographe  de 
France  and  commissioned  him  to  write  a  complete  history  of 
his  predecessors.  Du  Haillan  in  his  preface  takes  considerable 
credit  to  himself  for  the  labour  he  had  spent  on  his  work  and 
for  the  superiority  of  his  treatment  to  that  of  his  contemporary, 
Belleforest.  But  he  uses  the  same  material,  that  of  the 
Grandes  chroniques,  with  little  or  no  attempt  at  independent 
research,  and  his  rhetorical  additions  are  not  only  modelled 
on  those  of  Paolo  Emilio  but  are  often  translated  from  him. 
The  style,  however,  and  form  of  his  work  made  it  immediately 
popular  and  definitely  brought  French  history  into  the  domain 
of  literature3. 

A  far  larger  measure  of  the  true  historical  spirit  was 
possessed  by  Jean  du  Tillet  and  Nicolas  Vignier,  who,  like 
Claude  Fauchet,  produced  historical  works  within  three  years 
of  Du  Haillan's.  But  these,  as  well  as  the  Franco-Gallia  <>f 
the  celebrated  jurist,  Francois  Hotman,  were  written,  not  for 
the  general  public,  but  for  the  select  circle  of  the  learned. 
In  spite  of  their  labours,  and  in  spite  of  the  publication  of 
texts  relating  to  the  early  history  of  France  by  Pierre  Pithou, 
Jacques  Bongars,  Jacques  Simon,  Andre  Duchesne,  and 
Andre  de  Valois,  French  history  continued  to  be  a  depart- 
ment of  rhetoric  until  the  beginning  of  the  third  decade  "i 
the  nineteenth  century. 

1  See  1.  239. 

2  B.  circ.  1536,  d.  1610. 

3  The    Protestant,   Jean   de    Serres,    author   of    Latin    commentaries   on    the 
Religious  Wars,  claims  for  his  Inventaire  general  de  Vhistoirt  il>    France  (1 
that  it  is  based  on  original  authorities.     The  style  i-  clear  and  fairly  graphic,  bul 
jerky.     Both  matter  and  style  are  severely  criticised  l>y  Lelong,  /•';  >.  Hist.  111 


224  HISTORY   AND   POLITICAL   SCIENCE  [CH. 

In  the  sixteenth  century  it  was  rather  in  the  contiguous 
domain  of  political  science  than  in  that  of  pure  history  that 
the  historical  spirit  bore  solid  fruit.  Jean  Bodin,  the  author 
of  the  first  modern  systematic  treatise  on  political  science, 
was  born  at  Angers  in  1530,  and  after  studying  law  at 
Toulouse  was  for  some  time  a  professor  at  that  University. 
In  1 561  he  came  to  Paris  to  practise  as  an  advocate,  but 
after  a  short  experience  gave  up  the  bar  for  the  more 
congenial  pursuit  of  learning.  In  1566  he  published  his 
Methodus  ad  facilem  historiarum  cognitionem,  which  shews 
wide  reading  and  an  enlightened  conception  of  the  function 
of  an  historian.  The  bent  of  his  mind  is  revealed  by  the 
remark  that  the  chief  utility  of  history  is  to  serve  as  a  guide 
to  politics.  Ten  years  later  (1576)  he  was  appointed  King's 
advocate  at  Laon,  which  henceforth  became  his  home,  and  at 
the  close  of  the  same  year  he  was  chosen  to  represent  the 
Vermandois  as  one  of  the  deputies  for  the  Third  Estate  at 
the  Estates  of  Blois.  He  wrote  an  account  of  the  proceedings, 
in  which  he  played  a  courageous  and  important  part.  A  few 
months  before  this  his  great  work,  Six  livres  de  la  Rcpidilique, 
had  made  its  appearance1.  It  achieved  an  immediate  success. 
A  fresh  authorised  edition  was  published  every  succeeding 
year  down  to  1580,  besides  various  pirated  ones  from  the 
presses  of  Lyons  and  Geneva  and  Lausanne.  When  Bodin 
went  to  England  in  the  train  of  the  Due  d'Alencon  in  1579, 
he  found  a  Cambridge  professor  lecturing  on  a  Latin  trans- 
lation of  his  work.  It  was  so  bad  that  he  made  a  new  one 
himself.  This  was  published  in  1586,  and  owing  to  the 
amount  of  revision  which  it  received  is  the  one  generally  cited 
by  writers  on  political  science. 

Bodin,  says  Sir  William  Hamilton,  stands  out  with 
Aristotle  and  Montesquieu  as  one  of  "  the  great  political 
triumvirate2."  But  this  is  an  exaggerated  or,  at  any  rate,  a 
misleading  estimate.  Aristotle  and  Montesquieu  are  great 
classics  ;  Bodin  is  not  ;  and  that  not  so  much  from  his  want 
of  form  and  style,  for  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  Politics  in 

1  The  privilege  is  dated  Aug.  12,  1576. 

2  Discussions,  p.  529. 


XXIV]  HISTORY   AND    POLITICAL   SCIENCE  225 

the  shape  it  has  come  down  to  us,  as  from  the  absence  in 
his  writings  of  those  great  thoughts,  simple  in  statement  but 
profound  and  universal  in  application,  which  have  made 
Aristotle  and  Montesquieu  great  educators  of  mankind. 
Bodin's  most  important  contribution  to  political  science,  the 
doctrine  of  Sovereignty,  however  serviceable  to  the  political 
student,  cannot  be  said  to  concern  the  world  at  large.  Thus 
not  being  a  classic,  he  is  practically  unknown,  except  to 
students.  Even  professed  political  thinkers  like  Austin  and 
Maine  attribute  the  doctrine  of  Sovereignty  to  Hobbes,  and 
never  mention  Bodin,  from  whom  Hobbes  certainly  borrowed  it. 

But  Bodin,  without  being  an  Aristotle  or  a  Montesquieu, 
has  great  merits — vast  learning,  an  enlightened  mind  (in  spite 
of  his  belief  in  witchcraft1),  bold  independence  of  thought,  and 
sound  judgment.  He  naturally  took  Aristotle  as  his  model, 
but  he  shews  remarkable  independence  of  thought,  often 
following  the  same  lines  only  to  differ  from  and  correct  his 
predecessor's  conclusions.  For  instance,  on  the  question  of 
slavery,  to  which  the  conquest  of  Peru  by  the  Spaniards  had 
given  special  interest2,  he  is  very  far  from  accepting  Aristotle's 
declaration  that  some  men  are  slaves  by  nature,  but  denounces 
the  whole  practice  with  great  eloquence.  He  gives  telling 
instances  of  the  cruelty  which  it  engenders,  and  of  its  danger 
to  the  stability  of  states3. 

Another  well-known  chapter  is  that  in  which  he  discusses 
the  effect  of  climate  and  situation  on  national  character  and 
government4.  Though  the  germ  of  this  inquiry  is  to  be 
found  in  Aristotle  and  other  Greek  writers,  Bodin  was  the  first 
to  work  it  out  in  detail.  Montesquieu's  treatment  is  on 
narrower  lines  and  shews  considerable  differences. 

It  is  not  till  near  the  close  of  his  work  that  Bodin  addresses 
himself  to  the  question  which  is  the  best  form  of  government, 
and  after  a  fair  show  of  discussion  decides  in  favour  of  royal 
or    lawful     monarchy5.      This    he    distinguishes    alike    from 

1  His  Demonomanie  des  Sorciers  was  published  in  [581. 

2  La  Gasca,  the  pacificator  of  Peru,  who  abolished  slavery  there  in  its  more 
aggravated  form,  had  died  as  recently  as    [567. 

3  1.  c.  v.  4  v.  c.  i.  '   vi.  c.  iv. 

T.  II.  '5 


226  HISTORY   AND    POLITICAL   SCIENCE  [CH. 

despotism  {monarchie  seigneurialc)  and  from  tyranny  as  the 
form  in  which  the  subjects  obey  the  laws  of  the  monarch,  and 
the  monarch  obeys  the  laws  of  nature1.  He  further  goes  on 
to  express  his  preference  for  the  hereditary  form  of  succession 
through  males  only2.  Leaving  out  of  question  the  futility  of 
pronouncing  in  favour  of  any  form  of  government  as  the 
absolute  best,  and  the  vagueness  of  Bodin's  distinction 
between  the  different  forms  of  monarchy,  it  may  be  noticed 
that  in  spite  of  his  attempt  to  discuss  the  question  fairly  he 
has  approached  it  with  a  firm  conviction  in  favour  of  the 
government  which  had  prevailed  in  France  for  nearly  six 
centuries.  However  unphilosophical  this  may  be,  it  is  for 
the  general  reader  one  of  the  interesting  features  of  his 
book.  For  Bodin  was  the  philosophical  representative  of 
that  important  central  party  in  France  of  which  Michel  de 
l'Hospital  was  the  founder,  and  Montaigne  and  De  Thou 
were  among  the  chief  ornaments,  of  that  party  which  had 
for  its  two  leading  principles  loyalty  to  the  crown  and  re- 
ligious tolerance,  and  which  its  opponents  nicknamed  the 
Politiques  because  its  members  were  said  to  prefer  the  salvation 
of  their  country  to  that  of  their  souls.  It  was  patriotic 
feeling  which  had  led  Bodin  to  write  his  book.  "  Now  that 
the  force  of  the  storm  has  struck  the  vessel  of  our  State  with 
such  violence  that  even  the  master  and  the  pilots  are  weary 
of  their  continual  labour,  it  must  needs  be  that  the  passengers 
lend  a  hand3."  It  was  to  further  this  object  that,  with  a  truer 
instinct  than  De  Thou,  he  wrote  it  in  French,  thus  addressing 
himself  not  merely  to  a  limited  class  of  learned  men  but  to 
all  Frenchmen  "  who  desire  to  see  this  kingdom  restored  to 
its  former  splendour,  and  once  more  flourishing  in  arms  and 
government." 

Bodin's  defence  of  monarchy  was  no  doubt  intended  to  be 
a  corrective  of  the  anti-monarchical  ideas  of  the  Protestants, 
and  especially  of  the  Franco- Gallia,  which  was  published 
some  time  before  he  wrote  his  concluding  book.  His  attitude 
towards  religion  is  equally  characteristic  of  the  politique  party, 

1   »■  c  ii.  2  vi.  c.  v. 

3  Preface  addressed  to  Guy  du  Faur  de  Pibrac. 


XXIV]  HISTORY   AND   POLITICAL   SCIENCE  22J 

and  closely  resembles  that  of  Montaigne.  A  prince,  he  says, 
should  not  allow  the  established  religion  of  his  state  to  be 
made  the  subject  of  controversy,  but  if  religious  factions 
spring  up  he  must  not  resort  to  force  to  put  them  down.  For 
the  more  you  do  violence  to  the  inclination  of  men,  the  more 
obstinate  they  become.  Bodin  instances  in  favour  of  this 
policy  of  toleration  the  treatment  of  the  Arians  by  the 
Emperor  Theodosius,  the  practice  of  the  Sultan  in  his  own 
day,  and  the  saying  of  Theodoric  the  Goth  that  we  cannot 
impose  a  religion,  because  no  one  can  be  compelled  to  believe 
against  his  will1.  At  the  Estates  of  Blois  Bodin  put 
these  ideas  into  action,  and  it  was  largely  owing  to  his  in- 
fluence and  energy  that  a  petition  was  presented  to  the  King 
by  the  Third  Estate  in  favour  of  peace  and  toleration.  In 
private  he  held  views  even  more  tolerant,  for  when  he  died  at 
Laon  in  1596  he  left  behind  him  an  unpublished  Latin  treatise 
entitled  Colloquium  Heptaplomeres'1,  in  which  the  subject  of 
religion  is  discussed  by  a  Roman  Catholic,  a  Lutheran,  a 
Calvinist,  a  Mahommedan,  a  Jew,  a  Pagan,  and  a  believer  in 
Natural  Religion  with  such  complete  impartiality  that  Bodin 
was  variously  declared  by  his  readers  to  be  a  Protestant,  a 
Jew,  and  a  Deist.  Whatever  his  real  belief  was  he  lived  and 
died  in  communion  with  the  Catholic  Church. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Editions. 

[Pierre  de  la  Place],  Commentaires  de  FEstat  de  Ft  Religion  et 
Republique  soubs  les  Rois  Henry  et  Francois  seconds,  et  Charles  neufieme, 
1565. 

[Louis  Regnier  de  la  Planche],  Histoire  de  FEstat  d,-  France, 
tant  de  la  Republique  que  de  la  Religion,  sous  /<■  Regne  de  Francois  IF 
1576;   ed.  E.  Mennechet,  2  vols.   1836. 

[Henri  Lancelot  Voisin  de  la  Popeliniere],  Lhistoire  de 
France  depuis  Fin  1550  jusques  a  ces  temps,  2  vols.  [La  R01  helle]   15X1. 

1  Religionem  i/nperare  nonpossumus,  quia  in- mo  a \gitur  ut  <  redat  invitu  r,I V.c.  vn. 
-  Edited  partly  in  German  and  partly  in  Latin  by  G.  E.  Guhrauer,  Berlin  1841, 

and  in  Latin  by  L.  Noack,  Schwerin  1857. 


228  HISTORY   AND   POLITICAL   SCIENCE        [CH.  XXIV 

JACQUES  AUGUSTE  DE  THOU,  Historiarum  sui  temporis  pars  prima 
[books  i-xviii]  fo.  1604  ;  2  vols.  8vo.  1604.  Ab  A.D.  1543  usque  ad annum 
1607  libri  cxxxviii,  5  vols.,  Geneva,  1620-21  ;  ed.  S.  Buckley,  7  vols., 
fo.  London,  1733.  (This  sumptuous  edition,  which  includes  De  Thou's 
Latin  memoirs,  first  published  in  1620,  was  published  at  the  expense  of 
Dr  Richard  Mead,  the  materials  for  it  having  been  collected  by  the 
Jacobite  historian,  Thomas  Carte.)  A  French  translation  with  some 
suppressions  and  corrections  was  published  in  16  vols,  in  1734.  A  trans- 
lation of  the  memoirs  had  previously  appeared  at  Rotterdam  in  17 11. 

Bernard  de  Girard  du  Haillan,  Histoire  generate  des  Rots  de 
Fratice... depuis  Pharamond  jusqu'd  Charles   VII  inclusivement,  1576. 

Jean  Bodin,  Les  Six  livres  de  la  republique,  1576.  De  republica 
libri  sex,  Latine  ab  autore  redditi,  multo  quam  ante  locupletiores,  1586. 
The  six  books  of  a  Commonweale. ..done  into  English  by  R.  Knolles  (the 
historian  of  the  Turks),  1606.  An  Italian  translation  appeared  in  1588, 
and  a  Spanish  one  in  1590. 

TO    BE   CONSULTED. 

Lelong  (Le  pere),  Memoires  historiques  sur  plusieurs  liistoriens  de 
France  at  the  end  of  his  Bibliotheque  historique,  III.  1 771.  Lenglet  du 
Fresnoy  (L'abbe),  Methode  pour  etudier  P  histoire,  avec  un  catalogue  des 
principaux  histoires,  XII.  1772. 

Augustin  A.  Thierry,  Notes  sur  quatorzc  historiens  anterieurs  a. 
Mezerai  in   CEuvres,  II.   515-557,   185 1. 

A.  Poirson,  Histoire  du  regne  de  Henri  IV,  IV.  31S-341,  3rd  ed.  1866. 

J.  Collinson,  Life  of  Thuanus,  1807  ;   Niceron,  IX.  341  ff. 

P.  Jannet,  Histoire  de  la  science  politique,  II.  30-46,  1 14-127,  3rd  ed. 
1887.  H.  Baudrillart,  Jean  Bodin  et  son  temps,  1853.  H.  Hallam, 
Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  Eicrope,  II.  51-69,  4th  ed.  1854.  G.  von 
Polenz,  Geschichte  des  politischen  franzosischen  Calvinismus,  III.  340-398, 
i860.     R.  Frint,   The  Philosophy  of  History  in  Europe,  I.  68-76,  1874. 


CHAPTER    XXV 


THE   SATIRE    MENIPPEE 

THE  French  Wars  of  Religion,  besides  inspiring  and 
colouring  grave  philosophical  treatises  like  Bodin's  Six  livres 
de  la  Republique,  gave  rise  to  an  enormous  mass  of  pamphlet 
literature.  Varying  in  form  and  character  according  to  the 
idiosyncrasy  of  the  writer,  it  is  sometimes  oratorical,  some- 
times narrative,  sometimes  philosophical,  and  often  satirical. 
The  great  majority  of  the  pieces,  written  as  they  were  to  meet 
the  controversy  of  the  hour,  have  only  an  historical  interest, 
but  the  Satire  Menippee  has  achieved  a  permanent  place  in 
French  literature,  and  there  are  others  which  call  for  a  passing 
notice,  if  only  as  manifestations  of  the  growing  strength  of 
French  prose. 

The  first  in  point  of  date  is  the  Epistrc  cnvoicc  an  Tigre  de 
la  France,  or  as  it  was  called  for  short  the  Tigre.  It  appeared 
in  1560  and  was  attributed  on  fairly  conclusive  evidence  to 
the  jurist  Francois  Hotman.  Modelled  on  Cicero's  Catiline 
orations  it  reads  like  a  succession  of  pistol-shots  fired  point- 
blank  at  the  object  of  its  attack,  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine. 
Rarely  before  had  the  French  language  been  used  with  such 
nervous  and  concise  energy  as  in  this  tin}-  pamphlet  <>l  ten 
pages1. 

The  next  notable  attack  on  the  Cardinal,  commonly 
known   as    Le    Livre   des   Marchaads1,    is    very   different    in 

1  See  for  a  full  account  of  the  pamphlet  II.  M.  Baird,  History  of the  Hugu 

1.  445  ff. 

2  See  the  bibliography  at  the  end  of  the  chapter  for  (he  proper  tit!.-. 


230  THE   SATIRE    M^NIPP^E  [CH. 

character  to  the  Tigre.  It  is  in  the  form  of  a  conversation 
held  between  the  writer  (who  is  undoubtedly  Regnier  de  la 
Planche1)  and  sundry  Paris  shop-keepers  just  after  the 
Cardinal  of  Lorraine  had  been  stopped  by  order  of  Francois 
de  Montmorency  from  entering  Paris  with  an  armed  escort 
on  January  8,  1565.  The  pamphlet  is  at  once  an  exceedingly 
skilful  and  damaging  attack  on  the  Guises  and  a  plea  for 
moderation  and  tolerance,  for  that  policy  which  Michel  de 
l'Hospital  as  Chancellor  was  vainly  endeavouring  to  carry 
out.  The  style  is  strongly  Latinised,  but  is  distinguished  by 
admirable  management  of  both  clause  and  sentence,  at  that 
date  a  rare  quality  in  French  prose,  and  by  a  lively  and 
vigorous  use  of  metaphor. 

After  the  massacre  of  St  Bartholomew  a  change  comes 
over  the  character  of  the  pamphlets.  They  are  all  more  or 
less  inspired  by  the  massacre,  and  the  chief  object  of  attack  is 
no  longer  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine  but  Catharine  de'  Medici. 
The  only  one  however  that  possesses  any  literary  interest  is 
the  anonymous  Discours  merveilleux  de  la  vie  et  actions  et 
deportemens  de  Catherine  de  Jlfedicis,  or  the  Vie  Sainte 
Catherine,  as  it  was  popularly  called2,  which  was  first  pub- 
lished in  the  autumn  of  1574,  though  the  earliest  known 
edition  is  of  1575.  It  became  immediately  popular  ;  several 
editions,  as  well  as  a  Latin  and  an  English  translation, 
appeared  in  1575,  and  a  revised  edition  in  the  following  year. 
It  is  of  course  grossly  unfair  to  Catharine,  but  it  is  well- 
arranged  and  well-written,  clear  and  logical,  though  without 
any  marked  individuality  of  style.  Who  was  the  author  ? 
The  attribution  to  the  Protestant  Jean  de  Serres  may  at  once 
be  dismissed,  for  he  aspired  to  be  a  grave  and  impartial 
historian  and  he  was  in  favour  of  a  conciliatory  policy.  But 
a  greater  name  has  been  associated  with  the  pamphlet,  that 
of  Henri  Estienne.  His  authorship  however  has  been  ab- 
solutely disproved  by  Mark  Pattison,  who  points  out,  first  that 
he  expressly  denied  it  adding  that  he  was  in   Hungary  at  the 

1  See  Reveille-matin.  1574,  dialogue  i.  p.  104. 

2  The  original  title  seems  to  have  been  Deportemens  de  Catherine  de  MeJicis. 
See  P.  de  l'Estoile,  Memoircs  iournaux,  1.27. 


XXV]  THE    SATIRE    MEXIPPEE  23  I 

time,  secondly  that  he  had  not  the  intimate  knowledge  of 
French  politics  which  the  pamphlet  displays,  and  thirdly 
that  the  style  is  quite  unlike  his1.  The  style,  indeed,  though 
of  considerable  merit,  is  only  at  rare  intervals  enlivened  by 
touches  of  the  racy  picturesqueness  which  is  habitual  to 
Henri   Estienne. 

The  pamphlets  inspired  by  the  massacre  were  by  no 
means  all  personal  attacks  on  the  Queen-mother.  Several 
were  chiefly  concerned  with  the  discussion  of  the  grave 
political  question  whether  it  is  lawful  to  resist  an  unjust 
magistrate,  or  in  other  words  whether  revolution  is  ever 
justifiable.  This  was  the  main  object  of  inquiry  in  the 
Franco-Gallia  of  Francois  Hotman,  published  in  1573,  and 
in  the  Vindiciae  contra  tyrannos,  written  almost  certainly  in 
1574  (and  almost  as  certainly  by  Philippe  Du  Plessis-Mornay), 
though  not  published  till  1 579 2.  But  these  two  famous  treatises 
being  written  in  Latin  need  only  a  bare  mention  in  these 
pages. 

The  death  of  the  Due  d'Alencon  in  1584  and  the  con- 
sequent devolution  of  the  succession  on  the  Protestant  King  of 
Navarre  gave  a  new  turn  to  the  political  wheel.  The  League 
was  revived  with  a  more  effective  organisation,  of  which  Paris 
was  the  centre,  and  one  of  its  principles  was  declared  to  be 

1  Essays, 1.  i2off.  Estienne's  denial  will  be  found  in  the  preface  to  the Precellenct 
du  languge  franfois,  1579.  He  was  at  Geneva  on  May  16  (letter-  to  <  Irato  n°.  xiii.), 
and  soon  afterwards  went  to  Austria  and  Hungary.  Eor  a  further  discussion  of 
the  authorship  of  the  Discours  merveilleux  see  Appendix  E. 

-    Vindiciae   contra    tyrannos,    sive   dc    Principis    in    Populum    Populique    in 
Principem  legitima  potestate,  Stephano  Junio  Bruto  Celta  autore,  Edinburgi  [Basle, 
printed  by  Thomas  Guerin],  1579.      Since  the  time  of  Bayle  the  authorship  <>l  the 
Vindiciae  has  usually  been  attributed  to   Hubert  Languet,  the  friend  ;md  CO 
spondent    of    Sir    Philip   Sidney.      But    Max    Lossen    in   the   Silzungsberiehti 
koniglichen  bayerischen  Academic  tier   IVisser,  u  Milnchen  (philos.-philol. 

und  hist.  Classe),  1887,  pp.  215,  has  made  out  what  seem-  to  me  an  unanswerable 
case  for  Du  Plessis-Mornay.     Bayle  ha-  nothing  definite  to  set  againsl    M""   de 
Mornay's   express  statement   that  her  husband  wrote  a  book   in   Latin  in   1 
entitled  De  la  puissance  legitime  du  prince,  which  is  the  exact  title  of  the  Ii.ui-I.uimh 
made  by  Francois  Estienne  and   published  in    1581    {Mhnoires,   1.    81).      Furl 

confirmation  of  this  view  has  been  found  by  A.  Waddington  in  .1  passage  the 

Memoires  of  Conrart {Rev.  hist.  u.  65  ((.,  1893).     See  E.   \xm  tror 

Hist.  Review,  iv.    13  ff.,  for  an  excellent  analysis  ol  both  the  l>  and 

the  Vindiciae. 


232  THE   SATIRE    MtfNIPP^E  [CH. 

that  no  one  but  a  Catholic  should  succeed  to  the  throne  of 

France. 

The  same  arguments  which  had  been  used  by  the 
Protestants  to  justify  rebellion  against  a  Catholic  king  were 
now  turned  to  account  by  the  pamphleteers  of  the  League  to 
justify  the  exclusion  from  the  throne  of  a  Protestant  prince. 
Montaigne  did  not  fail  to  note  this  in  a  passage  which  he 
added  to  the  Apology  for  Raimond  Sebonde  in  the  second 
edition  of  his  Essays.  Cette  proposition  si  solenne :  S'il  est 
permis  an  subject  de  se  rebeller  et  armer  contre  son  Prince  poitr 
la  defense  de  la  religion  :  souvienne  vous  en  quelles  bouckes 
cette  annee  passee  r  affirmation  d'icelle  estoit  l 'arc-boutant  dun 
parti :  la  negative,  de  quel  autre  parti  c  estoit  V arc-boutant.  Et 
oyez  a  present  de  quel  quartier  vient  la  voix  et  instruction  de 
F line  et  P autre. 

The  chief  pamphleteer  on  the  side  of  the  League  was 
Louis  Dorleans,  a  Paris  lawyer,  while  the  legitimist  view  was 
represented  by  Pierre  de  Belloy,  advocate-general  of  the 
Parliament  of  Toulouse  and  a  Catholic,  whose  best  known 
production  is  the  Apologie  Catholique.  He  has  a  vigorous 
and  lively  style  united  to  considerable  learning  and  con- 
troversial acumen.  His  opponent,  Louis  Dorleans,  the  author 
of  the  Catholique  auglois,  is  also  a  good  writer,  when  he  is 
not  carried  away  by  violence.  Another  good  writer  on  the 
royalist  side  was  the  Huguenot  Michel  Hurault,  seigneur  du 
Fay,  a  grandson  of  Michel  de  1' Hospital,  and  secretary  to  the 
King  of  Navarre.  His  two  Discours  sur  Vestal  present  de  la 
France are  temperate  and  well-reasoned  reviews  of  the  situation. 
The  first  appeared  towards  the  close  of  1588,  and  was  read  by 
Guise  while  he  was  in  attendance  on  the  King  at  vespers  forty 
hours  before  his  assassination.  The  second  was  provoked  by 
the  bull  of  Gregory  XIV  (March  1,  1 591 ),  which  declared 
Henry  IV  excommunicate. 

In  1593  these  two  Discours  were  reprinted  with  two  others 
entitled  the  A nti-Espagnol and  La  Fleurde  Lys,  both  written  by 
Antoine  Arnaud,  a  Paris  lawyer  who  soon  afterwards  became 
famous  by  his  speech  against  the  Jesuits1.     The  A  nti-Espagnol, 

1  See  D'Aubigne,  Hist.   Universelle  liv.  XIII.   c.   xxiii.  for  the  effect  of  these 

pamphlets. 


XXV]  THE    SATIRE    MENIPPEK 


*35 


which  had  appeared  in  1 590,  is  a  good  specimen  of  combative 
prose  declamation,  expressed  in  well-balanced,  musical  periods. 
La  Fleur  de  Lys,  first  published  at  the  beginning  of  1593, 
though  inferior  to  its  companion  from  a  literary  point  of  view, 
is  even  more  effective  as  a  pamphlet.  One  of  the  chief  marks 
for  the  writer's  invective  is  the  '  old  tyrant  of  Spain.'  For  by 
this  time  it  had  become  perfectly  clear  that  there  were  only 
two  alternatives  before  the  French  people,  acceptance  of 
Henry  IV  or  submission  to  Spain.  In  the  Dialogue  d'entre 
le  Maheustre  et  le  Mauant,  published  early  in  December  1593, 
a  Paris  leaguer  expressed  his  choice  without  anycircumlocution. 
"  I  would  rather  be  the  subject  of  a  foreigner  who  is  a  Catholic 
than  of  a  Frenchman  who  is  a  heretic1."  Yet  this  was  more 
than  four  months  after  the  King  had  taken  le  saut  pirilleux 
and  had  returned  to  the  Catholic  fold. 

There  was  however  one  party  at  Paris  which  had  not 
thrown  aside  the  national  qualities  of  good  sense  and 
moderation.  This  was  the  party  of  the  Politiques.  During 
the  terrorism  of  the  League  they  had  shewn  some  timidity, 
but  after  Mayenne's  summary  chastisement  of  the  Sixteen 
(December  1591)  for  their  murder  of  President  Brisson  they 
began  to  take  courage  and  to  hold  meetings  at  the  house  of 
their  leader,  the  Sieur  Daubray,  with  a  view  to  a  more  regular 
organisation. 

Among  the  members  of  this  party  was  a  councillor  of 
Parliament,  named  Jacques  Gillot,  who  lived  on  the  Quai  des 
Orfevres,  a  few  steps  from  the  Sainte  Chapelle  of  which  he 
was  a  canon.  He  was  a  man  of  considerable  learning,  the 
friend  and  correspondent  of  Scaliger  and  other  scholars,  and 
the  possessor  of  a  fine  library.  Easy  circumstances  enabled 
him  to  entertain  his  friends,  who  consoled  themselves  at  his 
house  by  freedom  and  gaiety  of  conversation  for  the  terrorism 
and  gloom  which  prevailed  without.  Among  them  were 
Pierre  Le  Roy,  Pierre  Pithou,  Florent  Chrestien,  Nicolas 
Rapin,  and  Jean   Passerat,  all   men    between   fifty  and   sixty 

1  To  understand  this  dialogue  in  its  true  light  as  the  apology  of  ihe  U 
should  be  read  in  the  original  edition  of  1593.     The  revised  edition  -I'  [594  was, 
I  feel  sure,  printed  by  the  royalist  party. 


'■54 


THE   SATIRE   M^NIPP^E  [CH. 


wars  of  age,  and  for  the  most  part  scholars  of  considerable 
distinction.  Rapin  and  Passerat  we  know  already  as  poets1. 
Of  Le  Roy  nothing  is  known  save  that  he  was  a  canon  of 
Rouen  and  almoner  to  the  Cardinal  of  Bourbon,  and  that 
De  Thou  describes  him  as  vir  bonus  et  a  factione  snmmc 
a  ii  en  its.  Florent  Chrestien  had  been  tutor  to  Henry  IV, 
being  at  that  time  a  Protestant.  He  was  now  a  Catholic. 
A  pupil  of  Henri  Estienne,  his  reputation  as  a  Greek  scholar 
was  considerable,  his  favourite  author  being  Aristophanes, 
three  of  whose  plays  he  had  translated  into  Latin  verse  with 
a  commentary.  We  have  seen  that  Passerat  had  made  a 
special  study  of  Plautus  and  Rabelais,  and  that  Rapin  had 
translated  Horace.  Thus  the  studies  of  these  scholars  had 
been  no  bad  preparation  for  the  writing  of  comedy.  Pierre 
Pithou2  like  Chrestien  had  been  brought  up  as  a  Protestant, 
narrowly  escaping  death  in  the  massacre  of  St  Bartholomew, 
but  in  the  following  year  he  became  a  Catholic.  Of  all  the 
band  he  was  the  man  of  the  most  solid  learning.  He  had  a 
fine  library  which  included  a  large  collection  of  manuscripts. 
From  these  he  edited  various  important  texts  including  an 
editio  princeps  of  Phaedrus3,  the  Edict  of  Theodoric  (also  an 
editio  princeps),  the  Lex  Visigothorum,  and  several  mediaeval 
historical  works.  His  most  important  original  treatise  was 
Les  liberies  de  I '  Eglise  gallicanc*. 

Such  were  the  men  who  jointly  produced  the  Satire 
Menippee.  But  in  the  form  in  which  it  first  appeared  in 
the  summer  of  15935,  while  the  Estates  of  which  it  is  a 
burlesque  account  were  still  sitting,  it  was  the  work  of  a  single 
individual,  Pierre  Le  Roy.     This  primitive  form  is  probably 

1  For  Rapin  see  ante,  p.  58,  and  for  Passerat,  ante,  p.  =14. 

-  B.  at  Troyes,  1539,  d.  li>9^- 

'■'■  Published  at  Autun  in  1596,  the  year  of  Pithou's  death. 

4  See  Vie  de  Pierre  Pithou  [by  T.  Grosley],  2  vols.  1756;  also  a  letter  on  his 
death  from  De  Thou  to  Casaubon  (printed  in  De  Thou's  Memoirs)  and  De  Thou's 
eloquent  testimony  in  his  history  (bk  CXVII.  c.  ix)  to  the  merits  of  his  friend, 
amico  arcta  mecum  necessitudine  coniuncto. 

5  The  beginning  of  D'Aubray's  speech  in  the  primitive  text,  //  tie  failloit  ja 
que  nos  Prescheurs  nous  preschassent  tant  quil  nous  failloit  debourber,  is  an 
allusion  to  Boucher's  sermon  on  May  12,  1593  (VEstoilc, /ouma/y  VI.  71. 


XXV]  THE   SATIRE    MtfNIPPgE 


^35 


represented  by  a  manuscript  of  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale1, 
which  contains  besides  what  may  be  called  the  setting  a 
brief  sketch  of  all  the  speeches.  It  is  possible  that  part  of 
this  may  have  been  printed  in  1593,  but  it  was  chiefly  cir- 
culated in  manuscript  under  the  title  of  LAbbregi  et  L'Ame 
des  Estatz*.  It  was  not  till  the  close  of  April  1594  that  the 
satire  was  printed  at  Tours  in  a  greatly  enlarged  form  under 
the  title  of  La  Vertu  du  Catholicoii  dEspagne:  avec  un  Abrege 
de  la  tenue  des  Estats  de  Paris*.  The  first  edition  of  this  work 
consisted  of  only  seven  or  eight  hundred  copies,  and  the 
demand  was  so  great  that  the  printer,  who  had  returned 
to  Paris  with  his  press,  had  to  print  off  four  fresh  editions  in 
three  weeks.  In  the  sixth  edition  the  title  was  changed  to 
Satyre  Menippee  de  la  Vertu  du  Catholicon,  etc.  and  this  title 
was  afterwards  retained4. 

The  first  few  pages  of  the  satire,  which  form  a  sort  of 
introduction  entitled  La  vertu  du  Catholicon,  and  which 
represent  two  charlatans,  one  a  Spaniard  (the  Cardinal  of 
Plaisance)5  and  the  other  a  Lorrainer  (the  Cardinal  de  I VI lew ), 
selling  a  wonderful  drug  called  the  catholicon,  have  no  artistic 
connexion  with  the  rest.  But  the  three  short  pieces  which 
follow,  Procession  de  la  Ligue,  Les  Pieces  de  tapisserie  dont  la 
salle  des  Estats  fut  t endue,  and  De  Vordre  teuu  pour  les 
seances,  form  an  admirable  mise  en  scene  for  the  second  part, 
and  help  to  make  the  Me'nippee,  what  it  has  been  justly  called, 

1  N".  4001  (ponds  Bithune). 

2  Ed.    Read,    p.   11    (Deuxieme  advis  de   Vimprimeur).      Pat    Us   meilleures 
maisons  trottoit  le  Catholicon  (D'Aubigne,  Hist.  Univ.  IX.  c.  i). 

3  Je  ne  I'avois  pett  achever  tjirau  temps  qu  il  palli/t  flirt-  bagage pour    '<  % 

en  cesle  ville  apres  que  les  Parisiens  /'//rent  retournez  a  lenr  bon  sens  et  reduicts  en 
Fobeissance  du  Roy  (ed.  Read,  p.  6).  The  latest  event  to  which  there  is  an  allusion 
in  the  Menippee  is  the  murder  of  Saint-Paul  by  the  Due  de   Guise  on   April   15, 

1594.     It    must    have  been  completed  in   its  enlarged    I before  the    King's 

abjuration  on  July  25,  1594,  for  this  is  referred  to  throughout  as  .1  possible  and 
not  as  an  accomplished  event.  For  a  discussion  of  the  relations  ol  the  primitive 
and  the  enlarged  versions  to  each  other  see  Appendix   F. 

4  The  title  Satyre  Menippe'e  is  borrowed  from  the  Saturat  Menir;    1 
written  partly  in  prose  and  partly  in  verse  in  imitation  "I  a  work   by  th 
philosopher,  Menippus  of  Gadara.     Only  fragments  of  Varro's  work   bavi 
down  to  us:  that  of  his  model  is  entirely  lost. 

5  Felipe  de  Sega,  Bishop  of  Plasencia  in  Spain  and  Papal  1  1 


236  THE  SATIRE    ME'NIPPfi'E  [CH. 

a  comedy  as  well  as  a  pamphlet.  But  it  is  the  second  part, 
the  speeches  of  the  principal  actors  in  the  drama  of  the  Estates, 
which  has  conferred  on  it  immortality. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  object  of  the  writers 
was  twofold — to  expose  the  purely  selfish  aims  of  the  speakers, 
and  to  hold  them  up  to  ridicule.  Had  they  contented  them- 
selves with  burlesquing  the  speeches  which  were  actually 
made  or  were  likely  to  have  been  made  in  the  Estates  they 
would  have  missed  their  first  object.  For  a  speaker  in  a 
public  assembly  who  has  selfish  aims  naturally  wears  a  mask. 
While  therefore  the  speakers  in  the  satire  are  represented 
with  their  individual  characteristics  of  style  and  manner,  they 
are  impelled  by  an  irresistible  impulse  to  speak  the  truth. 
Each  speaker  throws  down  his  mask  and  shews  his  true  face. 
Mayenne  wants  to  be  king  himself,  the  Archbishop  of  Lyons 
looks  for  a  Cardinal's  hat,  the  Cardinal  de  Pelleve  is  in  the 
pay  of  Spain,  Rieux  seeks  in  the  general  disorder  an  opportunity 
for  plundering  his  neighbours.  This  is  the  idea  which  gives 
artistic  unity  to  the  satire,  and  of  which  Le  Roy  is  apparently 
entitled  to  all  the  credit.  The  speeches  are  seven  in  number. 
According  to  Pierre  Dupuy1,  who  besides  being  a  man  of  sound 
learning  was  a  great  collector  of  curious  books,  Gillot  wrote 
that  of  the  Cardinal  Legate,  Florent  Chrestien  that  of  the 
Cardinal  de  Pelleve,  Rapin  those  of  the  Archbishop  of  Lyons 
and  the  Rector  of  the  University,  and  Pierre  Pithou  that  of 
D'  Aubray 2.  For  the  remaining  two  speeches,  those  of  Mayenne 
and  the  Sieur  de  Rieux,  he  gives  no  author3.  Yet  of  the  first 
six  speeches  Mayenne's,  which  opens  the  ball,  is  the  best.  In 
a  tone  of  jovial  good-humour,  which  was  probably  habitual 
to  him,  he  is  made  to  expose  his  motives  and  intentions  with 
blunt  sincerity  : 


1  B.  158-2,  d.  1651.  His  edition  of  the  Minippfe  was  published  after  his 
death,  in  1664.  He  was  a  friend  of  Pierre  de  l'Estoile,  and  the  two  used  to  lend 
each  other  their  treasures. 

2  Cest  mon  frere  Pierre  qui  Va  fait  is  written  according  to  Goujet,  XV.  xxvi. 
in  a  copy  of  the  Satire  Mhiippee  belonging  to  Francois  Pithou. 

:;  Girart  in  the  Rev.  hist.  xxix.  340  ff.  shows  that  Passerat  wrote  the  Discours 
de  Vimprimeur,  and  possibly  also  that  of  the  Sieur  de  Rieux. 


XXV]  THE    SATIRE    MENIPPEE 


237 


Car,  encore  que  j'aye  faict  semblant,  par  ma  derniere  Declaration  et 
par  ma  Response  subsequente,  de  desirer  la  conversion  du  Roy  do 
Navarre,  je  vous  prie  croire  que  je  ne  desire  rien  moins  ;  et  aimeroy 
mieux  veoir  ma  femme,  mon  nepveu  et  tous  mes  cousins  et  parents  morts 
que  veoir  ce  Biarnois  a  la  messe.     Ce  n'est  pas  la  ou  il  me  demange. 

Aussi  ne  me  conseilleriez-vous  pas  que,  pour  une  messe  que  le  Roy 
de  Navarre  pourroit  faire  chanter  (ce  qu'a  Dieu  ne  plaise),  je  me  demisse 
du  pouvoir  que  j'ay,  et  que,  de  demy  Roy  que  je  suis,  je  devinsse  valet,  et 
pour  faire  tomber  Forage  de  ceste  guerre  sur  la  teste  de  ces  bons  Catho- 
liques  Espagnols,  nos  amis  qui  nous  veulent  apprendre  a  croire  en  Dieu. 
Bien  est  vray  que,  si  ladite  conversion  advenoit  a  bon  escient,  je  seroy  en 
grande  peine  et  tiendroy  le  loup  par  les  oreilles. 

The  Cardinal  Legate  speaks  partly  in  Italian  and  partly  in 
Latin,  and  the  other  Cardinal  partly  in  dog  Latin  and  partly 
in  French.  The  latter's  speech  is  a  model  of  inconsequence. 
while  the  legate  expounds  the  policy  of  the  Pope  in  terms  as 
delightfully  plain  as  those  used  by  Mayenne  : 

It  is  far  better  for  the  peace  of  Italy  and  the  security  of  the  Holy 
Apostolic  See  that  the  French  and  Spaniards  should  fight  in  France  or 
indeed  in  Flanders  for  religion  or  the  crown  than  in  Italy  for  Naples  or 
Milan1.  Therefore,  to  tell  you  the  truth,  the  Holy  Father  does  not  t.uc 
what  you  do  except  so  far  as  it  concerns  him  not  to  be  deprived  of  the 
annates  and  commendams  and  other  subsidies  which  are  paid  at  1< 
with  your  gold  and  silver. 

To  the  Archbishop  of  Lyons,  Pierre  dEspinac,  is  assigned 
the  role  of  a  distinguished  orator  skilfully  working  upon 
the  feelings  of  his  hearers  and  appealing  to  their  several 
interests  : 

Or,  ce  qui  importe,  pour  le  present,  le  plus  a  nos  affaires,  e'est  de 
bastir  une  loy  fondamentale  par  laquelle  les  peuples  Francois  seront 
tenuz  de  se  laisser  coiffer,  embeguiner,  enchevestrer,  et  mener  .1  1'appetit 
de  Messieurs  les  Cathedrants  ;  voire  se  laisseront  escorcher  jusques  aux 
os,  et  curer  leurs  bourses  jusques  au  fond,  sans  dire  mot  ny  s'enquerir 
pourquoy.  Car  vous  s^avez,  Messieurs,  que  nous  avons  affaire  de  nos 
pensions2. 

His  own  ambition  is  to  be  a  Cardinal.  1  [e  is  followed  by 
GuillaumeRoze,  Rector  of  the  University  and  Bishop  ol  Senlis, 

1   This  is  in  the  primitive  text. 

-  Improved  from  the  primitive  text,  more  especially  the  la  I  which 

replaces  pour  continuer  les  pensions  a  nos  espiom  ■ 


238  THE   SATIRE   MENIPP^E  [CH. 

and  one  of  the  most  violent  preachers  on  the  side  of  the 
League.  His  actions  and  speeches  had  been  latterly  so 
strange  that  he  was  believed  to  be  out  of  his  mind,  and  this 
is  the  character  assigned  to  him  in  the  satire.  He  makes 
a  furious  attack  on  Mayenne,  exposing  his  selfish  aims  with 
the  licensed  frankness  of  a  madman.  Then  comes  the  Sieur 
de  Rieux  as  the  representative  of  the  nobles  in  the  Estates. 
His  speech  is  that  of  a  ruffian  and  bandit,  a  character  which 
he  does  not  seem  in  real  life  to  have  deserved,  though  he  had 
the  misfortune  to  be  tried  and  hanged  shortly  before  the  Satire 
Maiippce  was  printed1. 

This  speech  concludes  the  satirical  part  of  the  work,  and 
one  cannot  speak  too  highly  of  the  quality  of  the  satire. 
While  the  writers  leave  no  doubt  as  to  their  meaning  they 
never  become  wearisome  by  iteration  and  are  often  content 
to  let  their  readers  draw  an  inference  for  themselves.  Appealing 
to  a  fairly  popular  audience  they  do  not  write  above  their 
heads,  nor  do  they  write  down  to  them.  They  are  neither 
too  subtle  nor  too  obvious. 

The  last  speech,  that  of  Monsieur  d'Aubray  for  the  Third 
Estate,  which  is  longer  than  all  the  others  put  together,  is  of 
a  wholly  different  character.  It  is  a  model  of  serious  eloquence. 
D'Aubray,  we  have  seen,  was  at  this  time  the  leader  of  the 
politique  party  in  Paris,  but  how  far  the  speech  put  in  his 
mouth  by  Pierre  Pithou  corresponds  to  the  speech  actually 
made  by  him  at  the  meeting  of  the  Estates  it  is  impossible  to 
say.  Nor  can  we  say  whether  the  popular  tone  and  phraseology 
of  the  speech  in  the  Menippee  represents  his  real  manner  of 
speaking2. 

Par  nostre  Dame,  Messieurs,  vous  nous  favez  bailie  belle*. 
It  is  on  this  popular  note  that  the  speech  begins.  It  is  soon 
raised  to  one  of  lofty  eloquence  : 

0  Paris,  qui  n'es  plus  Paris,  mais  une  spelonque  de  bestes  farouches, 

1  See  S.  Prioux,  Communication  sur  le  Sieur  de  Rieux,  1864.    He  was  hanged 

on  March  11. 

2  Palma  Cayet's  short  summaries  of  speeches  by  him  on  other  occasions  do  not 
enable  us  to  judge. 

'■'  In  the  primitive  text. 


XXV]  THE    SATIRE    MENIPPEE 


239 


une  citadelle  d'Espagnols,  Wallons  et  Neapolitans,  un  asyle  et  seure 
retraite  de  voleurs,  meurtriers  et  assassinateurs,  ne  veux-tu  jamais  te 
ressentir  de  ta  dignite,  et  te  souvenir  qui  tu  as  este,  au  prix  de  ce  que  tu 
es  ?  Ne  veux-tu  jamais  te  guarir  de  ceste  frenesie  qui,  pour  un  legitime  et 
gratieux  Roy,  t'a  engendre  cinquante  Roytelets  et  cinquante  tyrans?  Te 
voila  aux  fers  !  Te  voila  en  Flnquisition  d'Espagne,  plus  intolerable 
mille  fois  et  plus  dure  a  supporter  aux  esprits  nez  libres  et  francs,  comme 
sont  les  Francois,  que  les  plus  cruelles  morts  dont  les  Espagnols  se 
scauroient  adviser! 

Then  after  a  while  it  drops  again  to  the  level  of  a  historical 
retrospect  of  affairs  from  "  that  miserable  peace  (Cateau- 
Cambresis),  sealed  by  the  death  of  our  good  king  Henry  II." 
This  is  skilfully  turned  into  a  direct  attack  on  Mayenne, 
whose  policy  and  action  from  the  day  of  the  Barricades  is 
carefully  investigated.  His  double-dealing,  his  ambition,  and 
above  all  his  incapacity  when  opposed  to  Henry  IV,  are 
exposed.  The  situation  of  Paris  is  then  compared  to  that 
of  Jerusalem  when  besieged  by  Titus1.  The  same  ruin  and 
desolation  awaits  the  people  of  Paris,  unless  by  a  miracle  they 
recover  their  good  sense : 

Car  il  est  impossible  que  puissions  longuement  durer  ainsy,  estant 
desja  si  abattus  et  alangouris  de  longue  maladie  que  les  souspirs  que 
nous  tirons  ne  sont  plus  que  les  sanglots  de  la  mort.  Nous  sommes 
serrez,  pressez,  envahis,  bouclez  de  toutes  parts,  et  ne  prenons  air  que 
Fair  puant  d'entre  nos  murailles,  de  nos  boues  et  egouts  ;  car  tout  autre 
air  de  la  liberte  des  champs  nous  est  deffendu. 

Apprenez  done,  villes  libres,  apprenez,  par  nostre  dommage,  a  vous 
gouverner  d'ores  en  avant  d'autre  facon,  et  ne  vouslaissez  plus  enchevestrer, 
comme  avons  faict,  par  les  charmes  et  enchantements  des  prescheurs, 
corrompus  de  l'argent  et  de  l'esperance  que  leur  donnent  les  princes,  qui 
n'aspirent  qu'a.  vous  engager  et  rendresi  foibles  et  si  soupks  qu'ils  puissent 
jouir  de  vous,  et  de  vos  biens,  et  de  vostre  liberte,  a  leur  plaisir 
ce  qu'ils  vous  font  entendre  de  la  religion  n'est  qu'un  masque  dont  ils 
amusent  les  simples,  comme  les  renards  amusent  les  pics  de  leurs  tongues 
queues,  pour  les  attraper  et  manger  a  leur  ayse. 

Then  the  speaker  turns  on  the  Cardinal  Legate  and  exp 
first  the  designs  of  Spain  and  next  those  of  the    Holy  See, 
Ha  !  Monsieur  le  Legat,  vous  cstes  descouvert,  le  voile  est 
II  riy  a  plus  de  charmes  qui  nous  empeschent  de   veoir  clatri 

1  This  comparison  is  in  the  primitive  text. 


-4° 


THE   SATIRE   MENIPPEE  [CH. 


nostre  necessity  nous  a  ostela  taye  desyeux,  comme  vostre  ambition 
la  met  aux  vostres.  Finally  comes  the  question  of  the  choice 
of  king.    Nous  deviandons  un  Roy  et  chef  naturel,  11011  artificiel; 

mi  Roy  desja  faict,  et  11011  a  /aire En  un  mot  nous  voulons 

que  Monsieur  le  Lieutenant  scache  que  nous  reconnoissons  pour 
nostre  vray  Roy  legitime,  naturel,  et  souverain  seigneur,  Henry 
de  Bourbon,  cy-devant  Roy  de  Navarre. 

The  speech  is  designedly  popular  in  tone,  and  does  not 
shrink  from  familiar  phrases.  Compared  with  the  other 
specimens  of  eloquence  noticed  in  this  chapter,  such  as  the 
Tigre  of  Hotman  and  the  Anti-Espagnol  of  Arnaud,  or  with 
the  speeches  of  Du  Vair,  which  will  be  noticed  in  a  later  chapter, 
it  is  much  less  closely  modelled  on  classical  examples.  Pithou 
has  learnt  from  Demosthenes  and  Cicero  the  spirit  of  true 
eloquence,  but  he  expresses  it  in  a  thoroughly  French  fashion. 
In  this  true  reading  of  the  lesson  of  classical  literature,  in  this 
penetration  of  its  spirit  without  a  touch  of  slavish  imitation,  he 
is  the  forerunner  of  Boileau  and  Moliere.  The  historical  part 
of  the  speech  is  admirably  done,  being  remarkable  for  the 
accuracy  with  which  the  facts  are  stated  and  the  impartiality 
with  which  they  are  judged.  The  whole  summary  of  events 
is  as  able  as  that  of  Hurault  in  his  two  Discours,  and  is 
presented  in  a  more  popular  fashion.  It  is  perhaps  easy 
to  fall  into  exaggeration  in  speaking  of  Pithou's  performance. 
It  is  by  no  means  all  on  the  same  high  plane,  but  if  the 
emotion  of  the  reader  may  be  taken  as  a  test  of  his  eloquence, 
there  are  certain  passages  in  it  which  are  worth)-  to  rank  with 
Demosthenes  or  Cicero,  with  Burke  or  Bossuet. 

The  first  known  edition  of  the  Menippee  concludes  with 
seventeen  pieces  of  verse  attributed  to  Passerat  and  Rapin1 
of  which  the  following  is  a  specimen  : 

Mon  Dieu,  qu'ils  sont  beaux  et  blonds 

Vos  doublons  ! 
Faictes-en  chercher  encores, 

Demy-mores, 
Parmy  vos  jaunes  sablons. 

1  A  manuscript  note  to  a  copy  of  the  Menippee  in  the  Arsenal  library  says 
that  Rapin  wrote  the  Latin  verses  and  Passerat  the  French  ones  (Read,  p.  310). 


XXV]  THE   SATIRE    MENIPPEE  24I 


Ou  bien  vous  en  retournez, 

Bazannez  : 
Paris,  qui  n'est  votre  proye, 

Vous  renvoye 
Avecques  cent  pieds  de  nez  ! 

The  number  of  pieces  was  afterwards  increased  to  forty 
and  in  a  later  edition  they  were  followed  by  Gilles  Durant's 
A  sue  ligueur1.  It  was  a  worthy  conclusion  to  a  work  compact 
of  humour. 

If  the  Satire  Menippee  is  essentially  artistic  both  in 
conception  and  execution  the  same  cannot  be  said  of  the 
only  remaining  pamphlet  which  it  is  necessary  to  notice,  the 
Tableau  des  differens  de  la  religion  of  Philippe  de  Marnix  de 
Sainte  Aldegonde2,  the  well-known  friend  of  William  the 
Silent,  whose  surrender  of  Antwerp  was  so  severely  critu 
//  a  mis  la  religion  en  rabelaiserie,  ce  qui  est  trcs  vial  fait,  is 
De  Thou's  apposite  description  and  just  censure  of  the  book. 
In  none  of  the  followers  of  Rabelais  whom  I  have  discussed 
in  a  previous  chapter  do  we  find  so  close  a  reproduction  of 
the  master's  language*,  though  it  is  noticeable  that  the  disciple 
is  especially  attracted  by  that  part  of  the  Fifth  Book  of  which 
Rabelais's  authorship  is  most  doubtful.  But  his  kinship  to 
Rabelais  is  purely  on  the  surface.  If  like  Rabelais  he  treats 
of  grave  subjects  in  a  tone  of  buffoonery,  he  does  not  like- 
Rabelais  respect  the  more  solemn  mysteries.  If  he  mas- 
querades in  his  master's  clothes,  he  has  caught  nothing  of  his 
spirit.  We  may  allow  him  the  merit  of  clear,  forcible  and 
picturesque  language,  and  the  curious  student  may  reap  from 
his  book  a  harvest  of  popular  expressions,  but  the  work  as  a 
whole  is  thoroughly  bad  art.  It  is  in  short  a  first-rate  example 
of  a  common  defect  of  French  Renaissance  writers,  their 
inability  to  grasp  the  fact  that  each  kind  of  literature  has 
its  appropriate  form  and  tone.  Thus  while  Sainte  Aldegonde's 
book  is  in  conception,  arrangement,  and  extent  a  grave  theo 

1  Ante,  p.  58. 

-   Horn  at  Brussels  in  1538,  died  in  1598. 
3  See  A.  Delboulle,  M.  Jc  Sainte  Aldegondt . 
litt.,  in.  (1896)  440  ff. 

T.  II.  "' 


242  THE   SATIRE   M^NIPEE  [CH. 

logical  treatise,  the  tone,  though  sometimes  correspondingly 
grave,  perpetually  drops  into  that  of  a  satirical  pamphlet. 
Moreover  the  satire  is  too  coarse  and  the  polemic  too  bitter 
to  be  really  effective.  It  must  be  admitted  however  that  it 
suited  the  taste  of  the  day,  for  the  book  for  a  time  was  highly 
popular.  But  though  it  may  be  true,  as  Bayle  says1,  that  "  a 
great  number  of  persons  were  more  strongly  confirmed  in 
their  belief  by  it  than  by  Calvin's  masterpiece,"  it  can  hardly 
have  converted  a  single  individual. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Editions. 

Francois  Hotman,  Epistre  envoiee  au  Tigre  de  la  France,  1560; 
ed.  C.  Read,  1875. 

[Louis  Regnier  de  la  Planche,]  Du  grand  et  loyal  devoir,  fidelite 
et  obeissance  de  Messieurs  de  Paris  envers  ie  Roy  et  Couronne  de  France, 
1565;  ed.  J.  Buchon  in  Choir  de  Chroniques  et  Me  moires,  1836;  ed. 
E.  Mennechet  with  Histoire  de  V Estat  de  France  sous  Francois  II, 
11.  211  ff.,  1836. 

Discours  merveilleux  de  la  vie  et  actions  et  deportemens  de  Catherine  de 
Mcdicis,  1575  (earliest  known  edition,  164  pp.,  Brit.  Mus.)  ;  Seconde 
edition  plus  correcte,  1576. 

[Michel  Hurault  du  Fay,]  Libre  discours  sur  I' estat  present  de 
la  France,  1588;  Discours  sur  V estat  de  la  France  (second),  Chartres, 
1 591.  ANTOINE  Arnaud,  Coppie  dc  VAnti-Espagnol  faict  a  Paris,  1590 
{Bib.  Staid.,  no.  4807)  ;  La  Fleur  de  Lys,  1593  {Bib.  Sund.,  no.  4730); 
Quaire  Excellent  Discours,  1593  (first  collected  edition  of  the  four  last 
pamphlets). 

Dialogue  d'entre  le  Maheustre  et  le  Afanant,  1593  {Bib.  Xat.  ;  Cat. 
Ruble,  no.  624;  the  only  two  known  copies);  1594  (A — T8VC  ;  158  11. 
numbered  ;  this  revised  version  is  printed  in  the  1726  ed.  of  the  Satire 
Marippee,  III.  367  ff.). 

La  vertu  du  Catholicon  d'Espagne:  Auec  un  Abrege'  de  la  tenue  des 
Estats  de  Paris,  1594;  Satyre  Menippee  de  la  vertu  du  Catholicon 
dEspagne,  with  notes  by  Pierre  Dupuy,  Ratisbon,  1664  (printed  at 
Brussels  by  Foppens)  ;  ed.  Le  Duchat,  3  vols.,  Ratisbon,  1709  ;  ed. 
P.  Marchand,  3  vols.  ib.  1726  ;  ed.  Ch.  Read,  1876  ;  ed.  J.  Frank,  Oppeln, 

1  See  Lenient,  I.  262 — 266. 


XXV]  THE   SATIRE   MENIP^E 


^43 


1884.  Le  texte  primitif  de  la  Satyre  Menippe'e,  ed.  Ch.  Read  (from  a  MS. 
in  the  Bib.  Nat.,  no.  8933,  fonds  Bethune),  1878  ;  F.  Giroux,  Le  premier 
texte  manuscrit  de  la  Satyre  Menippe'e  (no.  20153,  fonds  Saint-Martin\ 
an  inferior  text  to  that  printed  by  Read),  Laon  [1897]. 

A  pleasant  Satyre  or  Poesie,  wherein  is  discovered  the  Catholicon  of 
Spayne  and  the  chief  leaders  of  the  League,  1595  (a  copy  in  the  Brit  Mus. 
with  the  autograph  of  Sir  \V.  Temple). 

Philippe  de  Marnix  de  Sainte  Aldegonde,  Tableau  des  differens 
de  la  religion,  Leyden,  1599  ;  4  vols.,  Brussels,  1857  (with  an  introduction 
by  Edgar  Quinet,  a  historical  notice  by  A.  Lacroix,  and  a  very  full 
bibliography). 


TO   BE   CONSULTED. 

Ch.  Labitte,  La  democratic  chez  les  predicateurs  de  la  Ligue,  1841. 
Sainte-Beuve,  Portraits  litteraircs,  III.  376  ff.  (part  of  an  article  on 
Labitte),  1846.  C.  Lenient,  La  satire  en  France,  2  vols.  E.  Armstrong, 
The  Political  Theory  of  the  Huguenots,  in  the  English  Hist.  Review, 
IV.  [3  ff.,  1889.  A.  Tilley,  Some  pamphlets  of  the  French  wars  of  religion, 
ib.  xiv.  451  ff.,   1899. 

R.  Dareste,  Essai  sur  Francois  Hot  man,  1850.  A.  Poirson,  Histoire 
du  regtie  de  Henri  IV,  444  ff.  (for  Hurault  du  Fay).  T.  Froment,  Essai 
sur  I' histoire  judiciaire  avant  le  dix-septieme  siecle,  pp.  147-218,  1874 
(for  Arnaud). 

Girard,  Passerat  et  la  Satire  Menippee  in  Rev.  Hist.,  xxix.  340  ff., 
1885.  Zeitsch.fiir franz.  Spr.,  III.  454  ff,  iv.  199  ff,  v.  81  ff.  and  206  ff., 
1882-3  (a  controversy  between  J.  Frank  and  F.  Zverina).  J.  Frank, 
ib.  xx.  1898  (a  review  of  Giroux — see  above).  A.  Poirson,  op.  cit.  iv . 
460  ff.  (an  excellent  account). 


CHAPTER    XXVI 


D'AUBIGNE 


IF,  leaving  Rabelais  out  of  account,  the  Satire  Menippee 
is  the  chief  example  of  prose  satire  in  the  literature  of  the 
French  Renaissance,  verse  satire,  or  at  any  rate  the  classical 
form  of  it,  is  best  represented  by  DAubigne  and  Regnier. 
It  is  true  that  Les  Tragiqa.es  is  an  epic  rather  than  a  satire  in 
intention,  but  the  natural  bent  of  DAubigne's  genius  was  in 
the  direction  of  satire,  and  it  is  the  satirical  passages  of  Les 
Tragiques  which  constitute  its  chief  merit.  It  is  also  true 
that  this  poem,  like  Regnier's  satires,  was  not  published  till 
after  the  close  of  the  Renaissance  period,  not  indeed  till  1616, 
three  years  after  Regnier's  death,  when  the  older  school  of 
literature  was  fast  falling  into  discredit  under  the  growing 
influence  of  Malherbe.  But  Les  Tragiques,  though  not  pub- 
lished till  this  late  season,  was  circulated  in  manuscript  as 
early  as  15931.  Moreover  DAubigne  in  his  versatility,  his 
imaginative  fervour,  and  his  careless  workmanship  is  a  typical 
representative  of  the  Renaissance.  His  versatility  is  amazing; 
a  lyric  as  well  as  an  epic  poet ;  a  contcur  as  well  as  a  satirist ; 
a  memoir  writer,  a  pamphleteer,  and  a  historian,  he  might 
have  found  a  place  in  several  chapters  of  this  history.  But 
everything  he  wrote  bears  the  impress  of  his  remarkable 
personality,  and  to  deal  with  his  writings  piecemeal  is  to  miss 
the  man  himself. 

Rather  let  us  take  as  the  starting-point  for  the  consideration 
of  his  work  the  autobiography  which  he  wrote  for  his  children 
towards  the  close  of  his  long  life.  In  the  preface  he  forbade 
its  publication,  and  the  injunction  was   kept  for  a   hundred 

1  D'Aubigne,  Hist.  Univ.,  ed.  Ruble,  vm.  327. 


CH.  XXVI]  D'AUBIGNE 


245 


years.  But  in  1729,  after  being  modernised  to  suit  the  taste 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  it  was  published  at  Brussels  under 
the  title  of  Histoire  Secrete.  Then  in  1851  M.  Lalanne, 
having  found  in  the  library  of  the  Louvre  a  manuscript  of  the 
text  which  had  belonged  to  Mme  de  Maintenon,  D'Aubigne  s 
granddaughter,  printed  from  it  the  first  authentic  edition1. 

Theodore  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  generally  known  as  Agrippa 
d'Aubigne,  was  born  near  Pons  in  Saintonge  in  February, 
1552.  His  father,  who  belonged  to  the  lesser  nobility,  and 
was  an  active  leader  of  the  Huguenot  party,  solemnly  initiated 
him,  when  still  a  boy,  into  the  service  of  the  cause.  They 
were  riding  together  through  the  town  of  Amboise  soon  after 
the  'Tumult,'  in  which  the  father  had  taken  part,  when  they 
suddenly  came  upon  the  suspended  heads  of  some  of  the 
conspirators.  Placing  his  hand  on  the  boy's  head  the  elder 
D'Aubigne  said  in  solemn  accents,  "  My  child,  to  avenge  th<  >se 
honourable  men  you  must  not  spare  your  life,  as  I  shall  not 
spare  mine  ;  spare  it  and  you  will  earn  my  curse."  Agrippa 
was  then  eight  ;  at  eleven  his  father  died  from  the  effects  of  a 
wound,  and  his  mother  having  died  in  giving  him  birth  he  was 
left  alone  in  the  world  with  only  a  slender  fortune.  There 
was  enough  however  to  pay  for  his  education,  which  according 
to  his  own  account  had  been  going  on  ever  since  he  was 
four  years  old,  when  he  began  to  learn  Greek,  Latin  and 
Hebrew  concurrently.  At  six  he  could  read  in  all  those 
languages  as  well  as  in  French,  and  at  seven  with  some 
assistance  from  his  tutor  he  had  translated  the  Crito  of  Plato. 

At  his  father's  death  he  was  at  the  University  of  Orleans, 
having  for  his  private  tutor  Matthieu  Beroald,  the  father  o\ 
the  author  of  the  Moyen  de  parvenir-.  At  the  age  of  thirteen 
he  went  to  the  University  of  Geneva  and  studied  there  for 
two  years.  At  sixteen  he  entered  on  his  military  career,  and 
in  the  following  year  (1569)  shared  in  the  Huguenol  defeat 
at  Jarnac.     Fighting  was  his  element,  and  when  he  entered 

1  The  text  in  MM.  Reaume  and  Caussade's  edition  of  the  Q  nplitts 
is  printed  from  the  original  text  in  the  Tronchin  collection  in  thi  Ateau  de 
Bessinges,  near  Geneva.    The  Louvre  MS.  was  burnt  during  the  «  ommune. 

2  See  ante,  p.  [88. 


246  d'aubign£  [ch. 

the  service  of  the  King  of  Navarre  in  1573  it  was  with  the 
recommendation  that  he  was  a  man  "  who  found  nothing  too 
warm." 

He  spent  the  next  three  years  at  the  French  Court, 
throwing  himself  into  its  dissipations  with  characteristic  energy 
and  love  of  emulation.  But  in  1576  the  King  of  Navarre 
made  his  escape  from  Paris,  and  during  the  next  seventeen 
years  of  his  adventurous  life  he  had  no  more  loyal  or  devoted 
servant  than  D'Aubigne.  The  relations  between  the  two  men 
were  sometimes  severely  strained,  partly  from  Henry's  innate 
levity  of  heart,  partly  from  D'Aubigne's  jealous  and  sensitive 
temperament.  But  whenever  there  was  any  dangerous  work 
to  do  D'Aubigne  was  there  to  do  it.  In  1587  he  took 
part  in  the  Protestant  victory  of  Coutras.  In  the  following 
year,  having  captured  the  fortified  town  of  Maillezais,  he 
remained  there  as  governor,  being,  as  he  says,  trop  las  de 
courir.     It  was  his  first  rest,  he  adds,  for  twenty  years. 

Henry's  conversion  was  a  great  blow  to  him,  and  he  ever 
afterwards  looked  on  him  as  a  renegade  to  his  party.  For 
though  not  wanting  in  political  insight  D'Aubigne  was  no 
statesman  ;  the  state  in  his  eyes  was  of  less  importance  than 
the  party.  Thus  though  from  time  to  time  Henry  shewed  his 
old  adherent  some  mark  of  favour,  D'Aubigne  retired  more  and 
more  into  the  background.  It  was  indeed  almost  impossible 
to  keep  up  friendly  relations  with  so  inveterate  ^frondenr.  who 
had  so  high  an  estimate  of  his  own  merits  and  services  and  so 
bitter  a  contempt  for  men  more  supple  and  less  honest  than 
himself.  He  lived  chiefly  at  Maillezais,  then  a  place  of  some 
importance,  not  only  as  one  of  the  Protestant  places  of  surety 
but  as  commanding  Lower  Poitou  and  covering  La  Rochelle. 
He  may  have  reflected  with  pleasure  that  Rabelais  had  been 
a  nominal  inmate  of  the  Benedictine  Abbey  at  Maillezais  and 
a  close  friend  of  the  Bishop's.  But  he  little  dreamt  that  the 
neighbouring  bishop  of  Lucon,  "the  dirtiest  and  most  dis- 
agreeable see  in  France1,"  would  before  long  rule  France  with 
almost  absolute  sway. 

1  "  Jay  le  plus  vilain  evesche  de  France,  le  plus  crotti  et  le  plus  desagr cable." 
Richelieu  to  Mme  de  Bourges,  April,  1609.    {Lettres,  ed.  Avenel,  I.  24.) 


xxvi]  d'aubigne  247 

The  King's  death  severed  his  last  tie  with  the  Court. 
During  the  troubles  of  the  regency  he  was  in  close  com- 
munication with  the  discontented  nobles,  with  Bouillon  and 
Conde  and  Rohan.  But  it  was  not  till  1620  that  on  a 
summons  from  Rohan,  the  recognised  chief  of  the  Huguenot 
party,  he  reluctantly  joined  the  standard  of  revolt.  On  the 
"Queen's  peace"  being  made  in  the  same  year  he  fled  to 
Geneva,  where  he  spent  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life  as  an 
honoured  citizen,  finding  employment  for  his  ceaseless  energy 
in  constructing  a  new  system  of  fortifications  both  for  Geneva 
and  Berne.  In  1623,  being  over  seventy,  he  married  as  his 
second  wife  a  widow  named  Renee  Burlamachi.  Shortly 
before  this  event  he  had  heard  of  his  condemnation  to  death 
in  France — it  was  for  the  fourth  time — for  having  used  for  his 
own  house  some  stones  of  a  ruined  church. 

In  1626  he  published  a  new  edition  of  his  Histoire  uni- 
verselle,  the  first  edition  of  which  had  been  printed  at  his  own 
press  at  Maille,  close  to  Maillezais,  appearing  in  three  parts, 
from  1616  to  1620.  At  Maille  too  he  had  printed  his  long 
poem  Les  Tragiques  (1616),  and  the  first  three  parts  of  a 
satirical  pamphlet  entitled  Les  aventurcs  du  baron  de  Faneste. 
It  was  a  belated  appearance  in  the  field  of  authorship.  For 
not  only  was  he  between  sixty  and  seventy  years  of  age,  but 
the  literary  school  in  which  he  had  been  brought  up  and  to 
which  he  adhered  as  loyally  as  he  did  to  his  religious  party 
was  passing  rapidly  out  of  fashion.  His  last  literary  labour 
was  the  addition  in  1630  of  a  fourth  part  to  Fceinstc.  causing 
thereby  great  scandal  to  the  grave  city  of  Geneva.  The  Council 
suppressed  the  book  and  ordered  the  author  to  be  reprimanded, 
but  within  a  month  he  was  beyond  the  reach  of  earthly 
censure.  He  died  on  May  9,  Ascension  Day,  1630.  at  th 
of  seventy-eight1. 

His  autobiography,  which  is  the  main  source  for  the 
of  his  life,  and  which  he  began  to  write  in   1623,  is  of  all  his 

1  The  date  in  the  public  records  of  Geneva  is  April  19  <  >.S.      1 1>-  widow  in  .1 
letter    printed    in  Bull.    Prot.   xlii.   32  f.   (1893)   gives    the 
April  21.     But  the  21st   was  a  Wednesday,  and   D'Aubign  "ill  on 

April  24. 


248  d'aubign£  [ch. 

writings  the  most  free  from  defects.  It  is  a  well-told  record, 
and,  making  due  allowance  for  the  natural  lapses  in  memory 
of  an  old  man  and  for  a  certain  tendency  to  self-glorification, 
it  is  on  the  whole  a  trustworthy  record  of  a  singularly  active 
and  romantic  life.  It  is  also  the  revelation  of  an  interesting 
and  noble  character,  though  that  character  is  somewhat 
complex,  and  is  chequered  with  many  crossing  lights  and 
shadows.  If  D'Aubigne  was  self-confident,  vain-glorious, 
obstinate,  quarrelsome,  rough  in  speech  and  manner,  he  was 
also  chivalrous,  loyal,  honourable,  full  of  warm  and  tender 
feeling.  Finally,  the  Vie  a  ses  enfant  &  has  a  merit  which  is 
somewhat  rare  in  sixteenth  century  literature  ;  it  is  short  and 
concise.  This  is  partly  due  to  D'Aubigne's  compressed  style, 
to  which  I  shall  recur,  but  also  to  the  fact  that  he  had  already 
related  in  his  History  a  good  many  incidents  of  his  career 
which  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  of  historical  importance,  and 
which  would  more  naturally  have  found  a  place  in  his  auto- 
biography. 

In  fact  the  critics  of  his  day  declared  that  the  Histoire 
Universelle  was  nothing  but  his  personal  memoirs1.  There  is 
considerable  truth  in  this,  and  from  the  historical  point  of 
view  it  is  no  doubt  a  grave  defect.  But  the  chief  literary 
merit  of  his  book  lies  in  the  vivid  description  of  scenes  of 
which  he  was  an  eye-witness.  If  you  look  for  the  ordinary 
qualities  of  a  historian,  for  accuracy,  a  sense  of  proportion,  or 
the  critical  examination  of  conflicting  reports,  you  will  look 
in  vain,  but  you  may  see  with  D'Aubigne's  eyes  the  stirring 
scenes  of  a  great  drama,  and  you  may  breathe  the  very 
atmosphere  of  the  Huguenot  camp. 

It  was  Henry  of  Navarre  who  as  far  back  as  1577  invited 
D'Aubigne  to  become  his  historian.  "  Begin,  sire,  to  act,"' 
was  his  reply,  "and  I  will  begin  to  write."  But  though  it  was 
not  till  thirty-five  years  afterwards  that  the  work  was  finally 
accomplished-    he    adhered    to    his    intention.       Henry    IV 

1  See  D'Aubigne's  answer  to  his  critics  in  the  letter  from  the  printer  to  the 
reader,  Hist.    Universelle,  ed.   Ruble,   I.    19. 

-  In  a  letter  undated,  but  evidently  written  in  161S,  he  says  it  had  been 
finished  for  six  years  (CEiivres,   1.  471). 


xxvi]  d'aubign£  249 

is  the  central  figure  of  the  Histoire  Universelle,  as  he  is  of 
Sully's  memoirs  ;  the  book  opens  with  his  birth,  giving  a 
summary  of  events  down  to  the  outbreak  of  the  Religious 
Wars,  and  though  it  ends  with  the  century  his  death  is  related 
in  an  appendix1. 

The  plan  of  the  work  is  a  singular  one.  Each  of  the  three 
volumes  is  divided  into  five  books,  and  each  book  concludes 
with  a  treaty  of  peace,  while  the  last  four  chapters  but  one  of 
each  book  deal  respectively  with  the  countries  of  the  East, 
the  South,  the  West,  and  the  North.  It  is  needless  to  point 
out  that  this  regularity  of  plan  is  fatal  to  historical  proportion. 
Nor  can  it  be  said  that  the  author's  attempt  to  embrace  the 
history  of  other  countries  adds  any  real  value  to  his  work,  or 
justifies  the  title  of  Universal  History.  A  more  appropriate 
title  would  be  The  Huguenot  Apology  for  the  Religious  Wars 
of  France.  But  though  D'Aubigne  cannot  help  writing  as  a 
Huguenot,  he  has  a  high  sense  of  the  historian's  duty  of 
impartiality-.  His  work  is  in  no  sense  a  piece  of  special 
pleading  ;  he  lets  the  facts  speak  for  themselves,  and  hardly 
ever  criticises  or  moralises ;  he  is  scrupulously  fair  to  his 
opponents ;  he  has  an  evident  liking  and  respect  for  the 
Guises,  while  of  Henry  III  he  speaks  in  the  following 
terms  : 

Prince  d'agreable  conversation  avec  les  siens,  amateur  des  lettres, 
liberal  par-dela  tous  les  rois,  courageux  en  jeunesse  et  lors  dc'sird  de  tous  ; 
en  vieillesse  aime  de  peu,  qui  avoit  de  grandes  parties  de  roi,  souhaite" 
pour  l'estre,  avant  qu'il  le  fust,  et  digne  du  royaume  s'il  n'eust  point  rdgnd  : 
c'est  ce  qu'en  peut  dire  un  bon  Francois3. 

His  work  is  professedly  a  military  history,  and  ho  therefore 
devotes  a  good  deal  of  space  to  the  account  of  battles  and 
sieges,  some  of  them  indeed  petty  skirmishes  which  derive 
all  their  importance  from  his  share  in  them.  It  is  true  that 
he  hardly  ever  refers  directly  to  himself,  but  the  veil   under 

1  The  account  of  Biron's  conspiracy  an<l  death  forms  anothei  appendix. 

2  See    besides    his    eloquent    preface    a   letter    u>   Sin kjularl    <    ' 

1.  472  ff.). 

3  lid.  XII.  c.  xxii  (ed.  Ruble,  VIII.  78). 


250  d'aubigne  [ch. 

which  he  conceals  his  presence1  is  not  too  thick  to  hide  his 
identity.  From  a  literary  point  of  view  one  could  spare  the 
battles  better  than  the  skirmishes,  for  D'Aubigne  is  far  from 
successful  in  his  descriptions  of  a  pitched  battle.  This  is 
partly  because  he  is  too  fond  of  technical  terms,  many  of 
which  are  unintelligible  to  the  modern  reader,  but  also  because 
he  has  himself  no  clear  vision  of  the  battle  as  a  whole2.  We 
may  perhaps  except  from  this  general  condemnation  the 
accounts  of  Dreux  and  St  Denis,  though  of  the  latter  battle 
we  have  a  clearer  narrative  both  from  La  Noue  and  Tavannes. 
Military  history  though  it  is,  the  remarkable  passages  in 
D'Aubigne's  book  are  not  the  accounts  of  battles  but  the 
dramatic  scenes  and  other  events  which  lend  themselves  to 
stirring  and  vivid  narrative,  such  as  the  scene  between  Coligny 
and  his  wife  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war3,  the  escape  of  Henry 
of  Navarre  from  Paris4,  the  death-chamber  of  Henry  III 
when  Navarre  was  hesitating  as  to  his  future  action5,  the 
siege  of  Paris6,  and  the  famous  comparison  between  Navarre 
and  Mayenne7.  D'Aubigne  is  fond  of  drawing  portraits 
shewing  himself  in  this  as  in  some  other  matters  a  close 
student  of  Tacitus.  Take  this  of  the  Constable  de  Montmo- 
rency; grand  capitaine,  bon  serviteur,  mauvais  ami,  profitant 
des  inventions,  labeurs  et  pertcs  d'autrui,  agissant  par  ruses; 
mais  a  lenr  defaut,  us  ant  de  sa  valeur*.  No  doubt  this  portrait 
leaves  out  a  good  many  features  and  the  term  grand 
capitaine  seems  unsuited  to  so  unsuccessful  a  commander  as 
Montmorency,  but  it  is  a  clever  and  artistic  sketch,  and  it  is 
probably  as  true  to  life  as  most  literary  portraits.  This  love 
of  portraiture   is   a   sign   of  D'Aubigne's   interest   in   human 

1  He  generally  refers  to  himself  as  //;/  icuyer  du  roi  de  Navarre,  sometime.-  as 
nn  capitaine  or  un  maitre  de  camp. 

-  A  it  taut  vaudrait  donner  dans  tine  fori t  de  piques  que  de  nous  Jeter  dans  ses 
recits  d'Arques  011  de  Coutras,  si  on  11  avail  pas  d' autre  narration  plus  distinct 
pour  en  prendre  idCe.     Sainte-Beuve,  Causeries  du  Lundi.  X.  329. 

3  III.  ii. 

4  VII.  xx.  Littre,  Litterature  et  /u'sloire,  1875,  pp.  193  ff.,  thinks  that 
Schiller  was  indebted  to  this  scene  for  the  idea  of  his  dialogue  between  Gertrud 
and  Stauffacher  in  the  First  Act  of  Wilhelm  Tell,  but  the  resemblance  is  only 
slight. 

5  xii.  xxiii.  8  xiii.  vii.  "  xm.  xxiii.  B   iv.  \. 


xx  vi]  d'aubigxk  251 

nature,  and  it  is  mainly  the  same  psychological  interest  which 
gives  a  value  to  his  admirable  summaries  of  the  political 
situation.  The  remarkable  chapter  on  the  decline  of  the 
League,  which  opens  with  the  comparison  between  the  King 
of  Navarre  and  Mayenne,  may  be  described  as  a  psycho- 
logical study  of  the  two  parties,  and  it  is  interesting  to  find 
in  it  a  reference  to  a  conversation  with  Montaigne,  the  very 
man  whose  Essays  gave  so  much  stimulus  to  the  study  of 
human  nature1. 

Considering  D'Aubigne's  temperament  it  is  greatly  to  his 
credit  that  there  is  so  little  trace  in  it  of  party  passion.  If 
this  is  due  in  part  to  his  lofty  conception  of  the  historian's 
functions,  it  must  also  be  remembered  that  when  the  work- 
was  completed,  not  only  had  his  master's  death  two  years 
before  revived  all  his  old  feelings  of  loyalty  and  admiration, 
but  he  himself  had  mellowed  and  softened. 

It  was  otherwise  in  the  interval  between  the  King's  con- 
version and  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  when  D'Aubigne,  filled  with 
bitterness  at  what  seemed  to  him  the  desertion  of  his  party 
by  King  and  courtiers,  wrote  the  savage  satire  of  the  Confession 
catJiolique  da  sieur  de  Saucy.  Nicolas  Harlay  de  Sancy  had 
faithfully  followed  his  royal  master's  changes  in  religion.  Born 
a  Protestant  he  had  become  a  Catholic  at  the  massacre  of  St 
Bartholomew,  had  returned  to  Protestantism,  and  in  the  year 
1 597  was  once  more  received  into  the  arms  of  the  Catholic 
Church'2.  "There  is  nothing  left  for  him,"  said  Henry  I V, 
forgetful  of  his  own  changes,  "  but  to  turn  Turk1."  But  S 
was  an  able  man  and  had  done  good  service  and  had  been 
well  rewarded  for  it.  In  D'Aubigne's  eyes  therefore  he  was 
the  typical  apostate  who  barters  his  religion  for  place  and  pelf. 
The  pamphlet  purports  to  be  Sancy's  explanation  of  hi--  con- 
version addressed  to  Jacques  Du  Perron,  the  Bishop  of  Evreux 


1  "  Suivant  ce  que  me  dit  tin  jour  Michel  Montagne,  assavoir  que 1, 
a  la  Coitronne  trouvent  tons  les  eschelons  jusques  an  marchepied  du  thro  1 
aisez,  mats  que  le  dernier  ne  se  pouvoit  franc Jiir  pour  sa  hauteur." 

-  The   Confession  de  Sancy  was  begun    and    possibly   the   main   porti 
written  at  this  time,  but  it   contain-  many   1 

3  II  ne  fallait  plus  que  turban.     P.  de  L'Estoile,  Journalt  VII.  95. 


252  d'aubigne"  [ch. 

and  future  Cardinal,  to  whose  religious  instruction  he  professed 
that  it  was  due.  This  framework  serves  D'Aubigne  for  a 
bitter  attack  on  Sancy  and  other  men,  such  as  Sponde  and 
Palma  Cayet,  who  had  yielded  to  Du  Perron's  persuasive 
arguments,  on  Du  Perron  himself,  who  is  always  referred  to 
as  M.  le  Convertisseur,  on  Protestants  like  Michel  Hurault 
and  Jean  de  Serres  whom  he  regarded  as  lukewarm  in  the 
cause,  on  the  Roman  Church  in  general,  and  on  the  Court  of 
Henry  III.  The  Apologie pour  Herodote,  which  is  referred  to 
in  one  place,  has  evidently  served  D'Aubigne  as  a  model,  and 
after  the  fashion  of  that  work  he  has  introduced  a  plentiful 
supply  of  scandalous  and  coarse  stories.  The  satire  is  not 
without  power,  but  it  is  far  too  savage,  and  the  irony,  which 
is  its  chief  weapon,  is  somewhat  clumsy  and  deficient  in 
humour.  But,  as  in  everything  D'Aubigne  wrote,  there  are 
flashes  of  genius,  such  as  :  Cc  nest  pas  changer  que  de  suivre 
tonsjours  mime  but.  J'ay  eu  pour  but,  sans  changer,  le  profit, 
I'houneur,  False  et  la  seurte1,  and  Mais  quel  aise  peuvent  sentir 
les  Huguenots  cousns  en  leurs  cuirasses,  comnie  tortucs  en  leurs 
coquilles  ?  Pour  leur  seurte  Us  n'out  que  Dieu  pour  tout  potagc, 
oil  un  homme  de  vion  humeur  ne  sc  fie  qu'd  raisou'-. 

Les  aventures  du  baron  de  Fceneste*  is  written  with  a  much 
lighter  hand.  The  characters  of  the  two  chief  interlocutors, 
though  slightly  drawn,  are  sufficiently  indicated,  and  shew 
considerable  humour.  Feeneste  is  a  young  Gascon  swash- 
buckler and  courtier,  who,  as  his  name  implies,  cares  only  for 
appearances,  while  his  friend  Enay,  an  elderly  gentleman  of 
Poitou  with  long  experience  of  the  Court  and  war,  stands  for 
reality4.  On  this  framework  is  built  up  what  D'Aubigne 
describes  as  '  a  picture  of  the  age  writh  some  true  and  amusing 

1   CEitvres,  II.  335. 

'  *&•>  P-  338-  Some  French  writers  have  a  much  higher  opinion  of  the  work. 
Poirson,  for  instance,  says:  Sous  tons  les  rapports  la  Confession  de  Sancy  est  mi 
chef ' d 'wtivre  parmi  les  essais  de  notre  literature  naissante  :  Paseal  et  Saint-Simon 
Font  etudie ponr  le  surpasser  et  ne  I'onl  pas  efface  enlierement.  [Hist,  de  Henri  77", 
Iv-  348.)     M.  Faguet  calls  it  la  premiere  des  Provinciates. 

3  (Euvres,  II.  375 — 651. 

4  Fseneste  from  the  Greek  <pa.Lv e a dai,  to  appear,  and  Enay  from  dvai.  to 
be.      See  D'Aubigne's  preface  to  the  first  book. 


xxvi]  d'aubign£  253 

stories'  {en  ramassant  quelques  bourdes  vrayes).  Here  again 
we  trace  the  inspiration  of  Henri  Estienne,  and  the  stories 
play  even  a  larger  part  than  they  do  in  the  Confession  de 
Sancy;  they  are  not  only  more  numerous,  but  they  are  longer 
and  more  amusing.  It  is  needless  to  add  that  they  are  not 
all  for  edification.  The  first  three  books,  which  appeared 
from  1617  to  1619,  give  a  picture  of  Court  life  during  the 
regency  of  Marie  de'  Medici,  when  the  extravagance  of  the 
nobles  in  dress  and  other  forms  of  personal  display  was 
becoming  more  and  more  ridiculous.  The  fourth  book,  which 
was  added,  as  we  have  seen,  in  1630,  begins  by  relating  the 
experiences  of  Faeneste  at  the  Huguenot  defeat  at  the  Pont- 
de-Ce  (1620),  and  in  the  recent  wars  in  the  Valtelline  and 
Piedmont.  It  concludes  with  a  collection  of  stories  relating 
to  preachers. 

D'Aubigne  is  a  good  raconteur;  he  is  neither  too  bald  and 
brief  like  Beroalde  de  Verville,  nor  on  the  other  hand  does 
he,  like  Rabelais,  overlay  his  story  with  a  too  great  wealth  of 
embroider}-.  He  has  also  a  fair  share  of  the  dramatising 
faculty.  Some  excellent  stories  are  to  be  found  in  his  letters. 
His  version  of  the  well-known  story  of  the  Comte  de  Lor. 
and  his  mistress's  glove  is  better  than  Brantome's1.  and  he  has 
some  remarkable  stories  about  weir-wolves  and  witchcraft 
and  divination2.  A  selection  from  his  letters  would  also 
include  two  clever  character-sketches  of  the  elder  Biron,  and 
Pomponne  de  Bellievre,  chancellor  to  Henry  IV3,  a  somewhat 
flowery  letter  sent  to  James  I  with  a  copy  of  the  Histoire 
Universelle,  a  manly  and  eloquent  one  addressed  to  L<  »uis  X  1 1 1 , 
an  amusing  one  to  Odet  de  la  Noue4,  and  the  letters  about 
vers  mesnres  and  the  poets  of  his  day5  to  which  I  have  referred 
in  a  previous  chapter6. 


1  CEuvres,  I.  328  ff.      For  Brantome's  version  see  hi-  '.'  .590. 

2  In   a  series  of  letters  addressed   to  La  Riviere,  the  kin-'-  firsl   phj 
(CEuvres,  1.  422  ff.). 

3  ib.  186;  275.  4  ib-  331;  501  ;  465. 

5  ib-  453  !  457- 

6  See  ante,  pp.  8  and   22.     In  another  letter  he  refei 
graphic   invention  [ib.   299). 


254  D'AUBIGNtf  [CH. 

The  chief  impression  that  D'Aubigne's  prose  style,  more 
especially  in  his  History,  leaves  upon  the  reader,  is  that  of 
extreme  rapidity  which  seems  to  reflect  the  feverish  energy 
of  the  writer.  Notable  examples  are  the  opening  of  the 
Third  book  (which  includes  the  account  of  the  massacre  of 
Vassy),  the  narrative  of  the  Barricades1,  and  that  of  the 
assassination  of  Henry  of  Guise2.  Rapidity  of  style  generally 
implies  brevity,  but  D'Aubigne's  brevity  is  partly  owing  to 
the  influence  of  Tacitus3.  We  learn  from  the  preface  to  the 
Vie  a  ses  enfants  that  the  followers  of  Henry  of  Navarre  gave 
more  time  than  he  approved  to  the  study  of  that  author,  and 
the  young  man  in  Les  Tragiques  who  is  represented  as  pouring 
over  the  deaths  of  Seneca  and  Thrasea  is  evidently  D'Aubigne 
himself.  D'Aubigne  sometimes  reproduces  Tacitus's  most 
pregnant  phrases,  as  in  the  portrait  of  Mayenne,  and  in 
that  of  Henry  III  quoted  above4.  But  he  is  no  mere  imi- 
tator of  Tacitus  or  his  style  would  be  intolerable ;  rather, 
recognising  in  Tacitus  a  spiritual  kinsman,  he  has  acquired 
almost  insensibly  something  of  his  concision  and  pregnancy. 
In  this  respect  he  is  a  marked  contrast  to  most  sixteenth- 
century  writers,  to  Amyot  with  his  smoothly  flowing  and 
redundant  language,  to  Montaigne  with  his  endless  digressions, 
to  Henri  Estienne  with  his  love  of  parentheses.  In  short 
while  the  more  characteristic  writers  of  the  sixteenth  century 
delight  in  playing  round  their  subject,  D'Aubigne,  except  on 
special  occasions,  goes  straight  to  his  goal,  never  looking  back. 
never  stopping  for  obstacles,  forcing  his  way  through  grammar, 
syntax,  and  even  sense.  But  this  eagerness  to  despatch  his 
subject  leads  him  into  the  same  defect  as  the  digressive 
tendency  of  the  great  majority  of  his  contemporaries.  As 
Sainte-Beuve  points  out,  D'Aubigne,  like  all  sixteenth-century 
writers,  suffers   from  a  want  of  nettete,  that  untranslateable 

1  Book  XI.,  c.  xxiii. 

2  Book  XII.,  c.  xiv. 

3  In  the  notice  to  his  readers  which  he  affixed  to  his  second  volume, 
D'Aubigne  apologises  for  the  concision  of  his  style  :  Peut-estre  que  les  clauses. 
entees  Pune  dans  V autre,  pour  rendre  le  style  plus  concis,  contraindront  un  ail 
courant  de  rebrousser  chemin  (ed.   Ruble,  VI.  367). 

4  Ante,  p.  249. 


xxvi]  d'aubigni? 


2 ;  5 


French     term,     which     Vauvenargues     calls     le    vernis    des 
maitres l. 

But  careless  and  rough  though  D'Aubigne  generally  is. 
when  he  chooses  to  take  pains  he  is  a  considerable  artist,  with 
an  eye  for  balance  and  proportion  and  the  other  requirements 
of  prose  architecture.  Take  for  example  the  following  passage 
from  the  admirably  written  preface  to  his  History  : 

Je  commence  mon  oeuvre  a  la  naissance  de  Henri  quatriesme,  juste- 
ment  surnomme  le  Grand  ;  il  n'est  dddie  a  aucun  qu'a  la  posteritc.  Mon 
dessein  s'estend  autant  que  ma  vie  et  mon  pouvoir.  Je  ne  m'excuserai 
point  par  crainte  ni  par  esperance,  plus  empesche  a  chastier  l'excez  de 
ma  liberte  qua  me  guerir  du  flatteur.  Nourri  aux  pieds  de  mon  Roi. 
desquels  je  faisois  mon  chevet  en  toutes  les  saisons  de  ses  travaux  ; 
quelque  temps  esleve-  en  son  sein,  et  sans  compagnon  en  privaute*,  et  lors 
plein  des  franchises  et  seve"ritez  de  mon  village,  quelquesfois  esloigne  de 
sa  faveur  et  de  sa  cour,  et  lors  si  ferme  en  mes  fidelitez,  que,  mesme  au 
temps  de  ma  disgrace,  il  m'a  fie  ses  plus  dangereux  secrets,  j'ai  recu  de 
lui  autant  de  biens  qu'il  m'en  faloit  pour  durer,  et  non  pour  m'eslever. 
Et  quand  je  me  suis  veu  croise  par  mes  infe'rieurs,  et  par  ceux  mesmes 
qui  sous  mon  nom  estoyent  entrez  a  son  service,  je  me  suis  pave"  en  disant  ; 
"  Eux  et  moi  avons  bien  servi  ;  eux  a  la  fantaisie  du  maistre,  et  moi  a  la 
mienne,  qui  me  sert  de  contentement  -." 

Or  the  fine  peroration  to  the  treatise  Du  debvoir  mutuel  des 

roys  et  des  subjects: 

Le  port  de  toutes  nos  tcmpestes  est  done  dans  le  havre  et  au  giron  de 
lamort,  qui  de  nous  entierement  mesprisee  ne  peut  plus  nous  espouvanter 
de  ses  moyens  ;  car  s'il  faut  donner  du  nes  en  terre  dans  une  breche,  ou 
en  quelque  autre  sorte  de  combat,  e'est  trouver  ce  que  nous  avons  tant 
cerche,  e'est  ce  champ  d'honneur  duquel  nous  nous  somnu's  tant  vante"s  et 
que  nous  avons  eu  honte  d'esquiver  de  deux  pas  en  arriere,  e'est  pour 
celuy  qui  donne  la  vie  heureuse  et  veritable  pour  la  vaine  et  la  fau 
avec  l'excellent  gain  au  change,  et  au  lieu  de  regrets  nous  comble  de 
fcelicitez3. 

It  is  the  imaginative  character  of  D'Aubigne's  prose  which 
stamps  it  with  the  hall-mark  of  the  sixteenth  century.     This 

\  Causeries  du  Lundi,  X.  329. 

-  Hist.  Univ.,  I.  viii. 

3  CEuvres,  11.  68.     M.  Faguet  says  of  this  passage,  "  II  faut 
pas  au  xvie  siecle  une  page  d 'eloquence  super;,  in ;  t  qtHl  faut  a 

trovers  le  xviie  pour  en  trouver  une  autre  qui  la  vaille"  (i  ,!4°)- 


256 


d'aubigne  [ch. 


is  perhaps  less  conspicuous  in  the  History  than  in  the  Con- 
fession de  Sancy  and  Les  Aventures  de  Fczneste,  the  more 
familiar  tone  of  which  permits  him  to  indulge  more  freely  in 
the  use  of  metaphor  and  especially  of  homely  metaphor.  His 
general  freshness  and  raciness  of  speech  also  helps  to  give 
unfailing  life  and  colour  to  his  style.  The  following  passage 
taken  at  haphazard  from  the  History  is  a  good  average 
example  of  it : 

Au  milieu  de  telles  bordures,  la  France  ne  respirant  que  guerre,  le  roi, 
pour  commencer  la  noise  a  son  profit,  sous  couleur  de  secourir  les  pro- 
testans  d'Allemagne,  s'estoit  saisi,  par  la  ruse  de  son  connestable,  des 
villes  de  Mets,  Toul  et  Verdun,  commencoit  a  mugueter  Strasbourg.  Et, 
en  me  sine  temps,  la  roine  de  Hongrie,  sceur  de  l'empereur,  ayant  ramasse 
tout  ce  quelle  put  des  Pays-Bas,  vint  prendre  et  fortifier  Stenai,  brusla 
force  villes  et  bourgades  vers  la  Champagne,  contraignit  le  roi  de 
tourner  bride,  joint  aussi  que  les  princes  allemans  avoyent  cogneu  ses 
desmarches1. 

In  short,  when  D'Aubigne  is  at  his  best,  which  it  must  be 
confessed  is  not  very  often,  he  is  inferior  only  to  the  two 
greatest  prose-writers  of  the  sixteenth  century,  to  Rabelais 
and  Montaigne,  but  he  has  considerable  charm  even  in  his 
most  careless  mood. 

D'Aubigne  was  barely  twenty  when  he  made  his  first 
serious  poetical  effort.  It  was  a  sequence  of  a  hundred 
sonnets  in  honour  of  Diane  Salviati  (a  niece  of  Ronsard's 
Cassandre),  which  he  entitled  Hecatombe  a  Diane.  The  first 
thirty  or  so  sonnets  are  an  agreeable  variation  from  the 
orthodox  love-sonnets  of  the  period,  for  they  smell  of  smoke 
and  powder2,  and  they  breathe  the  ardour  of  a  lover  who 
having  been  severely  wounded  by  a  would-be  assassin  rode 
sixty-six  miles  to  die,  as  he  thought,  in  his  mistress's  arms'1. 
But  D'Aubigne's  inspiration  is  always  somewhat  short-winded, 
and  before  long  the  sonnets  begin  to  decline  to  the  level 
of  poetical  exercises.     The  odes  which  form  the  Third  book 

1  Book  I.  beginning  of  c.  vi  (ed.  Ruble,  I.  41  f.). 
-  lis  sentent  comme  moy 

La  poudre,  la  mesche  et  le  souffre. 
3   Vie  a  ses  enfants  [CEuvres,  1.  20).     The  engagement  was  broken  off  by  the 
lady's  father  owing  to  the  difference  of  religion. 


xxvi]  d'aubign£  257 

of  his  Printemps,  the  name  he  gave  to  this  youthful  poetry, 
are  much  what  one  would  expect  from  a  fervent  disciple  of 
Ronsard,  but  they  shew  a  side  of  D'Aubigne's  character 
which  is  apt  to  be  overlooked,  the  grace  and  esprit  which 
made  him  a  conspicuous  figure  at  the  Court  during  the  years 
which  followed  the  St  Bartholomew.  The  following  lines 
have  real  merit ;  they  might  have  been  signed  by  Belleau  or 
BaTf,  and  they  would  not  have  disgraced  Ronsard  himself. 

Soubs  la  tremblante  courtine 
De  ces  bessons  arbrisseaux, 
Au  murmure  qui  chemine 
Dans  ces  gazouillans  ruisseaux, 
Sur  un  chevet  touffu  esmaille  des  couleurs 
D'un  million  de  fieurs, 
A  ces  babillars  ramages 

D'osillons  d'amour  espris, 
Au  flair  des  roses  sauvages 
Et  des  aubepins  floris, 
Portez,  Zephirs  pillars  sur  mille  fieurs  trottans, 
L'haleine  du  Printemps1. 

And  there  is  wit  as  well  as  modesty  in  the  envoi : 

Lecteur,  pour  m'excuser  qu'est  ce 
Que  je  pourrois  dire? — Rien. 
Si  j'allegue  ma  jeunesse, 
Tu  diras  :  je  le  vois  bien2. 

But  on  the  whole  it  is  easier  to  find  good  lines  and  good 
stanzas  than  good  poems.  The  very  impetuosity  which  was 
so  marked  a  feature  in  D'Aubigne's  character  first  inspired 
his  Muse  and  then  betrayed  her.  He  has  not  only  poetical 
feeling  but  considerable  power  of  poetical  expression,  I><>1<1 
images,  picturesque  and  felicitous  words,  and  a  sense  <>l" 
harmony.  But  he  has  not  the  patience  to  polish  or  blot  ; 
thoughts,  images,  and  words  come  tumbling  over  <>nc  another, 

1  Ode  vii  {CEnvres  III.   131),  and  see  also  Odes  xvi  {i/>.    15:)  and   w 
168).     Ode  ix  is  a  variation  on  Desportes's  Rozette,  pour  un  feu 
-  ib.  205. 

T.  II.  '7 


2i»8  D'AUBIGNE  [CH. 

Worse  than  this,  when  inspiration  fails  him  he  does  not  wait 
for  its  return.     Thus  while  we  get  lines  like, 

Devorant  vos  beautez  de  la  faim  de  mon  ame1, 

and 

Void  moins  de  plaisirs,  mais  void  moins  de  peines  : 
Le  rossignol  se  tait,  se  taisent  les  Syrenes  ; 

and  from  the  same  poem,  L'Hiver  du  sieur  UAubigne, 

Qui  a  jamais  este  si  friande  de  voyage, 

Que  la  longueur  en  soit  plus  douce  que  la  port  -  ? 

on  the  other  hand  it  is  only  the  very  shortest  pieces  that  are 
equally  good  throughout,  such  as  the  following  epitaph  on  an 
infant : 

Cette  grand'  beaute  si  exquise, 

En  bref  temps  esclose  et  reprise, 

Ne  fut  a  nous  que  par  depost  : 

Le  Ciel  la  monstra  par  merveille 

Comme  une  perle  sans  pareille 

Qu'on  descouvre,  et  serre  aussi  tost3. 

In  about  the  year  1575  D'Aubigne  was  introduced  by 
Pierre  de  Brach  to  Du  Bartas,  who  shewed  him  the  beginning 
of  his  Semaine\  Fired  by  the  spirit  of  emulation  he  wrote 
a  long  epic  in  fifteen  cantos,  entitled  La  Creation,  which  is  a 
complete  failure5.  Then  in  1577,  being  confined  to  his  bed 
by  the  wounds  he  had  received  at  the  Homeric  combat  of 
Castel-Jaloux,  he  dictated  the  first  part  of  a  new  epic,  entitled 
Les  Tragiques*.  The  constant  fighting  in  which  he  was 
engaged  for  the  next  sixteen  years  left  him  little  leisure  for 
writing  poetry,  but  the  poem  seems  to  have  been  practically 
completed  before  the  death  of  Henry  III  and  to  have  circulated 

1  Sonnet  xxiii  (CEuvres,  in.  26). 

2  id.  298. 

3  id.  313.  Of  D'Aubigne's  minor  poems  the  only  ones  printed  in  his  lifetime 
were  Vers  funedres  sur  Jodelle,  Ballet  de  Circe  (1582),  and  those  contained  in 
Petitcs  (ruvres  mesties  (1630). 

4  I-  459- 

5  III.  325  ff- 

6  Vie  a  ses  enfants  (CEuvres,  1.  33)  ;  Hist.  Univ.  lib.  VIII.  c.  14;  Preface  to 
Les  T ragiques  (CEuvres,  IV.  4). 


XXVI]  D'AUBIGNE  2rg 

in    manuscript    soon    afterwards1.     It   was   not,   however,   till 
1616  that  D'Aubigne  printed  it  at  his  private  press  at  Maille. 

I  have  spoken  of  Les  Tragiqucs  as  an  epic,  and  it  may 
roughly  be  described  as  a  Huguenot  epic,  but  it  is  so  little  of 
an  epic  that  perhaps  it  is  fairer  to  describe  it  in  the  author's 
own  words  as  a  poem  in  seven  tableaux,  of  which  two  are  in 
a  lofty  tragic  style  (the  fifth  and  seventh),  two  are  in  the  style 
of  narrative  (the  first  and  sixth),  and  the  remainder  are  in  a 
medium  style,  the  second  and  third  being  more  or  less  satirical 
in  character.  But  whatever  we  call  the  poem,  it  is  badly 
planned  as  a  whole,  without  any  semblance  of  unity.  Nor 
can  much  more  be  said  for  the  individual  tableaux  of  which  it 
is  composed.  Miseres  is  too  general.  Les  Feux  is  merely  a 
versification  of  Crespin's  book  of  martyrs.  Les  Fers  is  confused ; 
even  the  account  of  the  St  Bartholomew  is  poor.  Vengeances 
opens  well  but  degenerates  into  the  worst  part  of  the  poem. 
Jugement  begins  badly  but  improves  somewhat,  though  it  canm  >t 
be  said  that  the  Vision  of  the  Last  Judgment  which  concludes 
the  whole  poem  is  really  effective.  D'Aubigne  can  see  visions, 
but  only  in  a  confused  fashion,  as  through  the  smoke  of  a 
battle.  He  is  neither  a  Dante  nor  a  Milton.  Thus  all  tin- 
supernatural  part  of  his  poem  fails  to  make  a  clear  impression 
on  the  reader.  Moreover  his  execution  surfers  from  manj 
the  faults  of  the  ordinary  pamphleteer  of  his  day,  especially 
from  the  love  of  piling  up  illustrations  from  classical  and 
biblical  history. 

By  far  the  best  book  of  the  poem  is  the  second,  entitled 
Princes,  for  it  is  here  that  D'Aubigne  indulges  most  freely  in 
satire.  The  whole  of  the  last  quarter  of  the  book,  which 
describes  the  arrival  at  Court  of  a  young  man  and  his  father, 
is  admirable,  and  has  all  the  realistic  force  of  personal  ob- 
servation. It  is  here  that  we  find  the  famous  description  of 
the  mignons : 

Ce  courtisan  grison  s'esmerveillant  de  quoy 
Quelqu'un  mesconnoissoit  les  mignons  de  son   Roy, 

1  The  preface  {il>.  IV.  10)  speaks  of  Henry  IV  having  read 
plusieurs  fois  when  he  was  King  of  Navarre,  ami  see  Hist.  Univ.  lib.  XIII. 
(ed.  Ruble,  VIII.  327). 


/ 


2<5o  d'aubigne  [ch. 

Raconte  leurs  grandeurs,  comment  la  France  entiere, 

Escabeau  de  leurs  pieds,  leur  estoit  tributaire. 

A  l'enfant  qui  disoit  :  "  Sont-ils  grands  terriens, 

Que  leur  nom  est  sans  nom  par  les  historiens?" 

II  respond:  "Rien  du  tout,  il  sont  mignons  du  Prince." 

Ont-ils  sur  l'Espagnol  conquis  quelque  province? 

Ont-ils  par  leur  conseil  releve  un  mal  heur, 

Delivre  leur  pais  par  extreme  valeur? 

Ont-ils  sauve-  le  Roy,  command^  quelque  armee 

Et  par  elle  gaigne  quelq'  heureuse  journee  ? 

A  tout  fut  respondu  :  "  Mon  jeune  homme,  je  croy 

Que  vous  estes  bien  neuf,  ce  sont  mignons  du  Roy1." 

lis  en  content  autant  qu'il  faut  pour  se  vanter  ; 
Lisants  ils  ont  pille"  les  pointes  pour  escrire, 
lis  sgavent  en  jugeant  admirer  ou  sousrire, 
Loiier  tout  froidement,  si  ce  n'est  pour  du  pain, 
Renier  son  salut  quand  il  y  va  du  gain, 
Barbets  des  favoris,  premiers  a  les  connoistre, 
Singes  des  estimez,  bons  eschos  de  leur  maistre : 
Voila  a  quel  scavoir  il  te  faut  limiter, 
Que  ton  esprit  ne  puisse  un  Juppin  irriter2. 

Earlier  in  the  book  is  the  equally  famous  portrait  of 
Henry  III  : 

Avoir  raz  le  menton,  garder  la  face  pasle, 

Le  geste  effemine,  l'ceil  d'un  Sardanapale  : 

Si  bien  qu'un  jour  des  Rois  ce  douteux  animal, 

Sans  cervelle,  sans  front,  parut  tel  en  son  bal  : 

De  cordons  emperlez  sa  chevelure  pleine, 

Sous  un  bonnet  sans  bord,  faict  a  l'ltalienne, 

Faisoit  deux  arcs  voutez  ;  son  menton  pincete, 

Son  visage  de  blanc  et  de  rouge  empaste, 

Son  chef  tout  empoudre,  nous  monstrerent  ridee, 

En  la  place  d'un  Roy,  une  putain  fardee3. 

The  next  book,  La  Chambre  doree,  which  is  also  mainly 
satirical,  has  some  fine  passages,  but  the  allegory  in  it  is 
overdone.  A  few  other  good  passages  will  be  found  scattered 
up  and  down  the  poem.     They  are  chiefly  satirical  in  character, 

1  CEuvres,  IV.  114. 

2  ib.  118. 

3  ib.  101.  It  is  interesting  to  compare  this  with  the  portrait  of  the  Histoire 
Universelle  quoted  above  {ante,  p.  249). 


xxvi]  d'aubign£ 


?6i 


such  as  the  account  of  how  Charles  IX  on  the  day  of  the 
St  Bartholomew  giboyait  aux  passans  trop  tardif  a  noyer. 

The  close  of  Les  Fers  is  a  fine  piece  of  rhetoric,  there  is 
true  pathos  in  the  account  of  the  martyrdom  of  Philippe  de 
Luns,  Mme  de  Graveron  in  Les  Feux\  and  there  is  exquisite 
beauty  in  the  following  lines  from  La  Chambrc  dorie: 
Les  cendres  des  bruslez  sont  precieuses  graines, 
Qui  apres  les  hyvers  noirs  d'orage  et  de  pleurs, 
Ouvrent  au  doux  printemps  d'un  million  de  fleurs 
Le  baume  salutaire,  et  sont  nouvelles  plantes 
Au  millieu  des  parvis  de  Sion  fleurissantes. 
D'Aubigne    excels    also    in    single    lines    and    couplets 
such  as : 

Chasque  goutte  de  sang  que  le  feu  fict  voller 
Porta  le  nom  de  Dieu  et  aux  coeurs  vint  parler. 

Comme  un  nageur  venant  du  profond  de  son  plonge, 
Tous  sortent  de  la  mort  comme  Ton  sort  d'un  songe2. 

Une  rose  d'automne  est  plus  d'une  autre  exquise. 

Rompu  et  corrompu  au  trictrac  des  affaires, 

and  the  magnificent 

Et  Dieu  seul,  au  desert  pauvrement  heberge", 
A  basti  tout  le  monde  et  n'y  est  pas  loge. 

Of  lines  such  as  these  D'Aubigne  might  well  say, 

l'acier  de  mes  vers 
Burinoit  vostre  histoire  aux  yeux  de  1'univers. 

In  fact,  had  D'Aubigne  written  social  satires,  in  the 
manner  of  Juvenal,  he  might  have  equalled  or  surpassed  his 
model,  for  to  the  concentrated  energy,  the  lofty  declamation, 
the  descriptive  power  of  the  Roman  poet  he  would  have 
added  a  greater  sincerity  and  a  more  intimate  knowledge  "| 
the  world.  But  he  never  found  his  true  literary  vocation  ;  he 
tried  many  kinds  of  writing  but  he  did  not  give  himself  up  to 
any  ;  he  has  left  some  splendid  fragments,  but  no  masterpii 
The  best  part  of  his  life  was  given  to  the  service  of  his  party  ; 
his  noblest  monument  is  the  History  in  which  th.it  part} 
enshrined. 

1  (Euvres,  IV.  p.   147. 

2  Cf.  La  Fontaine's  Sortons  ce  ces  rich 

Comme  Ton  sortiroit  d'un  son|  {FadUt,  x.  10.) 


262  d'aubign£  [ch. 

bibliography. 

Editions. 

Les  Tragiques,  donnez  au  public  par  le  larcin  de  Promethee,  Au  Dezert 
[MaiUe"]  par  L.B.D.D.  {Le  boitc  du  Desert),  4to,  1616  (see  Le  Petit,  p.  112)  ; 
Les  Tragiques,  ci-devant  donnez  au  public  par  le  larcin  de  Pwnethee,  et 
depuis  avouez  et  enriches  par  le  sieur  d'Aubigne,  8V0  (without  place  or 
date,  but  probably  printed  at  the  same  press  as  the  preceding  and  there- 
fore before  D'Aubigne  left  France  for  Geneva,  which  he  did  in  the  autumn 
of  1602  ;  there  is  a  copy  in  the  Arsenal  Library)1;  ed.  L.  Lalanne  {Bib. 
elze'v.),  1857  ;  ed.  Ch.  Read,  1872.  Lalanne's  edition  is  printed  from  that 
of  1616;  Read's  and  the  text  in  the  (Euvres  completes  (see  below)  from 
the  Tronchin  MS.  But  M.  Bedier,  Etudes  critiques,  1903,  points  out  that 
none  of  the  editors  have  taken  for  their  basis  the  best  text,  namely  that 
of  the  second  edition,  which  was  prepared  for  the  press  by  D'Aubigne" 
himself,  and  which  represents  his  latest  improvements.  He  argues  that 
a  future  editor  of  the  Tragiques  should  base  his  text  upon  this  edition, 
correcting  its  mistakes  with  the  help  of  the  MS.  This  has  been  done  for 
the  first  book  {Miseres)  in  a  critical  edition  by  H.  Bourgin  and  other 
pupils  of  the  Ecole  normale  (1896).  There  is  another  MS.  in  the  British 
Museum,  but  it  is  only  a  careless  and  unintelligent  copy  of  the  Tron- 
chin  MS. 

Histoire  Universelle,  3  vols.  fo.  MaiUe,  1 616- 1620;  Seconde  edition, 
augmentee,  &c,  Amsterdam  [Geneva],  fo.  1626  ;  ed.  A.  de  Ruble  for  the 
Soc.  de  Phist.  de  Prance,  9  vols.   1886- 1897. 

Les  A  ventures  du  Baron  de  Fames  te  {premiere  et  seconde  par  tie), 
MaiUe-,  1617  ;  troisieme  parlie,  ib.  1619  ;  en  quatre  parties,  Au  Dezert 
[Geneva],  1630  ;  with  notes  by  Le  Duchat,  2  vols.  Cologne  [Brussels], 
1729  ;  The  Hague  and  Amsterdam  [Paris],  1731  ;  ed.  Prosper  Merimee, 
1855. 

Confession  Catholique  du  Sieur  de  Sancy  in  the  Recueil  de  cUverses 
pieces  servant  a  P  histoire  de  Henry  III,  Cologne  [Brussels],  1660  ;  avec 
les  remarques  de  Le  Duchat,  2  vols.  Cologne  [Amsterdam],  1693  ;  ib. 
1699. 

Histoire  secrete,  in  the  same  volume  with  the  Avenlures  de  Pcrueste, 
Cologne  [Brussels],  1729,  and  Amsterdam  [Paris],  1731  ;  under  the  title  of 
Memoires,  Amsterdam  [Paris],  173 1,  and  ed.  L.  Lalanne,  1854. 

1  I  have  not  seen  either  of  these  editions  ;  M.  Muller,  one  of  the  conservateurs 
of  the  Arsenal  Library,  informs  me  that  they  are  printed  in  different  type,  that  of 
the  4'°  edition  being  considerably  larger.  There  were  copies  of  both  in  M.  de 
Ruble's  library  (Cat.  Ruble,  Xos.  219,  220). 


XXVI]  D'AUBIGNtf  263 

Le  Printemps,  ed.  Ch.  Read,  from  a  MS.  of  the  16th  cent.,  1874. 

(Euvres  completes,  edd.  E.  Reaume,  F.  de  Caussade  and  A.  Legouez, 
6  vols.  1873-1892  (in  spite  of  the  title,  without  the  Histoirc  Universelle). 
Vol.  v.  contains  a  biographical  and  literary  notice,  and  an  excellent 
bibliography,  including  an  account  of  the  MSS.  in  the  Tronchin  collection 
at  the  chateau  de  Bessinges,  near  Geneva. 

Some  writers  (Ch.  Read,  H.  Bordier  and  others)  attribute  to  DAubigne 
Le  divorce  satyrique  on  les  amours  de  la  reyne  Marguerite  on  the  strength 
of  four  commonplace  lines  which  occur  in  it  and  also  in  his  Printemps. 
But  the  lines  might  easily  have  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  writer  of 
the  pamphlet,  the  style  of  which  with  its  long,  cumbrous  sentences  seems 
to  me  decisive  against  DAubigne's  authority.  MM.  Reaume  and  Ca 
print  it  under  protest  (II.  653  ff.)  ;  see  the  former's  Etude,  p.  100. 


TO   BE   CONSULTED. 

E.  Geruzez,  Essais  a?  histoirc  litteraire,  1839.     A.  Sayous,  Etudes  litte- 
raires  sur  les  ecrivains  francais  de  la  Reformation,  II.   1841;  2nd  ed., 
1 88 1    (good).     L.   Feugere,  Caracteres  et  portraits  liltcraircs,   11 
new  ed.  1875.    C.-A.  Sainte-Beuve,  Causeries  du  Lundi,  x.  1854   masterly, 
but  deals  only  with  the  Histoire  universelle).     A.   Poirson,  Histoirc  du 
regne  de  Henri  IV,   IV.  290  ff.,   333  ff.,  382  ff.,  3rd  ed.   1866.     Paul  de 
Saint-Victor,  Homines  et  dieux,  423  ff.,  1867.     E.  and  E.  Haag,  La  France 
Protestante,  2nd  ed.  1877.     H.  Pergameni,  La  satire  au  XVI*  Steele  et  les 
Tragiques,  Brussels,  1882.     E.  Reaume,  Etude  historic/ lie  et  littiraire  sur 
A.  d Aubigne,  1883.     P.  Morillot,  Discours  sur  la  vie  et  les  ceuvr 
d'Audigne,  1884.     E.  Faguet,  Scizicme  siecle,  1894.      H.   C.    Macdowall, 
Henry  of  Guise  and  other  portraits,   1898  (a  well-written    and 
study). 


CHAPTER    XXVII 

THE   YEARS    OF    TRANSITION 

The  entry  of  Henry  IV  into  his  capital  on  March  22,  1594, 
followed  by  his  conversion,  and  by  his  absolution  in  the  follow- 
ing year,  led  to  the  rapid  submission  of  the  rebellious  nobles 
and  the  final  pacification  of  the  kingdom.  When  the  Edict  of 
Nantes  (April  15,  1598)  had  secured  for  the  Protestants  as 
much  toleration  as  it  was  possible  to  grant  them,  and  the  Peace 
of  Vervins  (May  2,  1598)  had  raised  France  once  more  to  a 
footing  of  equality  with  Spain,  it  became  possible  for  Henry 
and  Sully  to  take  in  hand  one  of  the  most  arduous  tasks  that 
had  ever  fallen  to  a  king  and  his  minister — the  restoration  of 
order  and  prosperity  to  a  kingdom  impoverished  by  nearly 
forty  years  of  civil  war  and  misgovernment.  The  new  social 
and  political  conditions  of  the  country  naturally  reacted  upon 
its  literature.  As  a  consequence  the  eleven  years  from  the 
publication  of  the  Satire  Me'nippee  (1594)  to  the  arrival  of 
Malherbe  at  Paris  (1605)  may  be  regarded  as  a  period  of 
transition  during  which  French  literature,  without  consciously 
breaking  from  the  traditions  of  the  Renaissance,  acquires 
certain  well-defined  characteristics  which  herald  the  approach 
of  a  new  era. 

The  first  characteristic  is  best  expressed  in  the  words  of 
M.  Lanson1,  La  litterature,  comme  la  France,  se  repose.     There 

1  I  had  determined  to  devote  a  separate  chapter  to  this  period  of  transition 
before  reading  M.  Lanson's  book,  but  I  must  acknowledge  my  debt  to  his  admirable 
treatment  of  it,  especially  on  pp.  343-345.  Of  the  writers  dealt  with  by  M.  Lanson 
under  this  period  I  have  already  discussed  Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye  and  Mont- 
chrestien,  while  I  prefer  to  leave  Regnier  for  another  chapter.  There  remains 
Francois  de  Sales,  whose  style  has  certain  sixteenth-century  characteristics  ;  but  it 


CH.  XXVII]  THE   YEARS   OF   TRANSITION  265 

is  an  end  to  the  lofty  ambitions  of  the  early  days  of  the 
Pleiad  ;  writers  are  now  content  with  lesser  aims  and  more 
tranquil  emotions.  Order  and  peace  in  literature  reflect  the 
restoration  of  order  and  peace  in  the  state.  Bertaut's  poetry 
shines  with  a  mild  and  equable  radiance:  even  in  his  young 
days  he  seemed  to  Ronsard  to  be  too  sage  for  a  poet1. 
Charron  systematises  Montaigne,  the  most  unsystematic  of 
philosophers2.  A  second  characteristic  is  a  further  increase 
of  that  seriousness  of  purpose  which  I  have  already  noticed. 
Charron  and  Du  Vair  are  professed  moralists  ;  the  official 
poems  of  Bertaut  and  Du  Perron  are  written  in  a  grave 
moralising  spirit,  far  removed  from  the  fantastic  tone  of 
Ronsard's  court  eclogues  and  masquerades,  or  from  the  gay 
frivolity  of  Desportes's  songs.  On  the  other  hand  both  poetry 
and  prose  are  marked  by  a  colder  sensibility  and  a  1 
fertile  imagination.  These  qualities  are  giving  place  to  reason, 
to  that  reason  which  was  to  reign  paramount  in  French 
literature  for  two  centuries. 

Throughout  this  period  of  transition  Desportes  was  still 
acknowledged  as  Ronsard's  successor  on  the  throne  of 
Parnassus,  but  he  had  ceased  to  write.  The  working  head, 
the  official  laureate,  pending  the  appearance  on  the  scene  of 
Francois  Malherbe,  was  Jean  Bertaut,  the  son  of  a  professor 
at  the  University  of  Caen:{.  After  serving  as  tutor  in  the 
family  of  the  Marechal  de  Matignon  he  was  appointed  in 
1575,  chiefly  on  the  recommendation  of  Desportes.  tutor  t>> 
the  Comte  d'Auvergne  (afterwards  the  Due  d'AngoulSme),  tin- 
natural  son  of  Charles  IX  and  Marie  Touchet.  This  brought 
him  to  the  Court,  and  soon  afterwards  he  also  received  the 
appointment   of    reader   to    the    king   and    secretary    t<>    his 

would  be  difficult  to  treat  him  satisfactorily  without  going  into  tin-  whole  question 
of  the    religious    revival.      Moreover    his    Introduction    <)   la  not 

published  till  the  year  1608.      I  shall  therefore  omit   him   altogethei    Iron 
survey. 

1  Regnier,  Sat.  v. 

2  "  Qua/id  Charron  ecrit,  une  autre 
esprits  tend  a  tout  mettre  en  ordre,  Henri  // 
une  discipline.''     (i.  Guizot,  Montaigne,  |>-  175- 

3  b.  at  Donnay,   1552— d.  1611.       Hi-  father  went  to  livi    al  Caen,  when  he 
was  in  his  second  year  (Grente,  p.  2). 


266  THE   YEARS   OF   TRANSITION  [CH. 

chamber.     In   1576  he  was  joined  by  his  friend  and  fellow- 
Norman,  Jacques  Davy  du  Perron1. 

The  two  Normans  became  in  their  different  ways  as 
complete  courtiers  as  Desportes  himself,  though  the  energetic 
and  pushing  Du  Perron  soon  outstripped  his  more  cautious 
and  retiring  companion.  When  Ronsard  died  in  1585 
Du  Perron  delivered  a  funeral  oration  and  Bertaut  wrote  a 
long  panegyrical  poem.  During  the  next  ten  years  every 
notable  death  at  the  French  court  was  the  occasion  for  a 
poem  from  the  friendly  rivals.  Joyeuse,  Catharine  de'  Medici, 
and  Henry  III  all  received  in  turn  their  tribute  of  song, 
the  last  being  mourned  with  the  sincerity  of  placemen  who 
have  lost  their  benefactor.  Both  rallied  to  Henry  IV  and 
both,  according  to  the  measure  of  their  talents,  helped  to 
smooth  the  path  for  his  conversion.  They  were  duly  rewarded 
for  these  services,  Du  Perron  with  the  bishopric  of  Evreux, 
and  Bertaut  with  the  Abbey  of  Aunay  in  the  diocese  of 
Bayeux2.  But  while  Du  Perron  was  henceforth  too  much 
occupied  with  public  affairs  to  have  leisure  for  poetry3,  Bertaut, 
who  was  not  yet  in  orders,  continued  to  follow  his  original 
calling.  His  poem  on  the  death  of  Gabrielle  d'Estrees  was 
one  of  his  most  famous  productions,  and  it  is  indeed 
impossible  to  admire  too  highly  the  skill  with  which  the  poet 
has  found  means  to  conciliate  every  conflicting  interest  and 
emotion. 

Par  nos  feux  qui  brusloient  d'vne  flame  si  pure, 

Et  par  ta  propre  foy,  ie  te  prie  et  coniure 

De  ne  plus  engager  la  saincte  liberte 

Que  ma  mort  t'a  rendue,  a  nulle  autre  beaute, 

Ou'a  celle  que  les  dieux  t'ont  desja  destinee 

Pour  attacher  ton  coeur  des  chaisnes  d'Hymenee. 

Accorde  moy  ce  bien  pour  comble  de  mes  voeux 

Que  ie  sois  la  derniere,  apres  tant  d'autres  nosuds, 

Qui  t'aye  estreint  des  laqs  dont  la  beaute"  nous  presse 

Au  volontaire  joug  d'vne  simple  maistresse4. 

1  b.  at  Saint-L6,  1556 — d.  r6i8. 

2  Da  Perron  was  appointed  in  1593,  and  Bertaut  in  1594. 

3  He  however  translated  after  this  date  a  portion  of  the  ALneid  and  wrote  a  few 
sacred  poems. 

4  QLuvres,  p.  177. 


XXVII]  THE    YEARS   OF    TRANSITION  26/ 

The  King's  marriage  with  Marie  de'  Medici  naturally 
demanded  another  official  poem,  and  on  this  occasion  Bertaut 
had  a  new  rival  in  his  fellow-townsman  Malherbe1.  In  1601 
he  published  a  collected  edition  of  his  graver  poems,  and 
this  was  followed  a  year  later  by  a  volume  of  love-poetrv 
written  in  his  youth  and  published  without  his  name.  The 
pervading  tone  of  this  latter  volume  is  a  gentle  melancholy, 
which  finds  expression  in  the  following  stanzas,  the  best- 
known  of  all  Bertaut's  work  : 

Felicite  passee 
Qui  ne  peut  revenir: 
Tourment  de  ma  pensee, 
Que  n'ay-je  en  te  perdant  perdu  le  souvenir! 
Helas !    il  ne  me  reste 
De  mes  contentements 
Ou'un  souvenir  funeste, 
Qui  me  les  conuertit  a  toute  heure  en  tourments-. 

If  these  lines  remind  one  of  Dante,  the  following  recall  a 
well-known  passage  in  Shakespeare  : 

On  ne  se  souvient  que  du  mal, 
L'ingratitude  regne  au  monde : 
L'injure  se  grave  en  metal, 
Et  le  bien-fait  s'escrit  en  l'onde. 

The  rest  of  the  poem,  however3,  and  indeed  the  greater 
part  of  Bertaut's  work,  does  not  shew  the  same  power  of 
natural  and  concise  expression.  If  his  conceits  are  less 
fantastic  than  Desportes's,  they  are  even  more  laboured  and 
artificial.    If  he  is  a  more  careful  writer  than  his  contemporary, 

J  A  good  commentary  on  Bertaut's  two  poems  is  furnished  by  the  following 
extracts  from  the  letters  of  Henry  IV  :— April  15,  1599.  to  his  sister,  La 
mon  amour  est  tnorte,  elle  ne  rejettera  plus. — Oct,   5,   1599,  to  the  Marquise  de 
Verneuil,  Mon  caur,  jevous  aime  si  fort  queje  ne  puis  pltu  vivrt  abi 
Nov.  27,  1599,  to  Marie  de' Medici,  Tenez  vous  saine  et  gaillarde, 
vous  aime  extr'emement.     Sitr  cette  veriti,  je  vou    /• ,,        nt  m  1 .  r6oi, 

to  the  Marquise  de  Verneuil,  Aimez-moi  ckirement,  et  croyet  ma  /. 
pour  vous,  que  je  baise  un  million  defois. 

2  (Euvres,  p.  357.       Cary,  op.  fit.  p.   \-T<u  writing  between   iS:i  and 
confirms  what  Sainte-Beuve  says  about  the  popularity  ol  these  lines  al  th< 

of  the  nineteenth  century. 

3  Defense  de  Vamour  accuse" par  M.  D.  P.  (M.  du  Perron),  Q. 


268  THE   YEARS   OF   TRANSITION  [CH. 

he  has  none  of  his  happy  audacities.  Perhaps  the  best 
complete  poem  in  the  volume  is  the  first  elegy.  It  has  the 
merit  of  being  short  and  it  contains  a  comparison  between  two 
lovers  and  two  palm-trees  which,  though  not  original,  Sainte- 
Beuve  pronounced  to  be  Bertaut's  only  really  fine  passage : 

On  dit  qu'en  Idumee,  es  confins  de  Syrie, 
Ou  bien  souuent  la  palme  au  palmier  se  marie, 
II  semble  a  regarder  ces  arbres  bien-heureux 
Qu'ils  viuent  animez  d'vn  esprit  amoureux. 
Car  le  masle  courbe"  vers  sa  chere  femelle 
Monstre  de  ressentir  le  bien  d'estre  aupres  d'elle : 
Elle  fait  le  semblable,  et  pour  sentr'embrasser 
On  les  voit  leurs  rameaux  l'vn  vers  l'autre  auancer 
De  ces  embrassements  leurs  branches  reuerdissent, 
Le  Ciel  y  prend  plaisir,  les  astres  les  benissent : 
Et  l'haleine  des  vents  souspirants  a  l'entour 
Loiie  en  son  doux  murmure  vne  si  saincte  amour. 
Que  si  l'impiete  de  quelque  main  barbare 
Par  le  trenchant  du  fer  ce  beau  couple  separe, 
Ou  transplante  autre-part  leurs  tiges  desolez, 
Les  rendant  pour  iamais  l'vn  de  l'autre  exilez : 
Iaunissants  de  l'ennuy  que  chacun  d'eux  endure 
lis  font  mourir  le  teint  de  leur  belle  verdure, 
Ont  en  haine  la  vie,  et  pour  leur  aliment 
N'attirent  plus  l'humeur  du  terrestre  element1. 

The  association  of  Bertaut  with  Desportes  in  Boileau's 
well-known  line  has  led  some  critics  to  consider  him  chiefly 
as  a  disciple  of  that  writer,  but  Boileau  is  historically  far  more 
correct  when  in  his  Reflexions  on  Longinus  he  joins  him  with 
Malherbe  "  as  having  caught  in  serious  poetry  the  true  note 
of  the  French  language2."  In  fact  Bertaut's  official  poems 
approximate  in  spirit  much  more  closely  to  those  of  Malherbe 
than  to  those  of  Ronsard   and   Du   Bellay.     They  shew  the 

1  (Etwres,  p.  381.  Sainte-Beuve's  separate  chapter  on  Bertaut  {Tableau, 
PP-  359  ff-)  was  written  partly  to  modify  the  severe  judgment  which  he  had  passed 
on  him  in  the  first  edition  of  the  Tableau.  It  is  an  excellent  piece  of  criticism,  but 
it  leaves  Bertaut  much  where  he  was. 

2  Ayant  attrape  dans  le  genre  serieux  le  vrai  genie  de  la  langue  francaise. 
Reflexions  sur  Longin,  vn.  (quoted  by  F.  Brunetiere  in  Lh'olution  des  genres, 
P-  134)- 


XXVII]  THE   YEARS   OF   TRANSITION 


i6g 


same  desire  to  improve  the  occasion  and  to  escape  from  the 
atmosphere  of  mere  panegyric  into  a  higher  one  of  general 
morality  and  public  duty. 

These  official  poems,  of  which  the  most  important  are 
funeral  panegyrics,  naturally  find  a  place  in  the  volume  to 
which  Bertaut  put  his  name  and  which  contains  his  later 
work  from  1585  onwards.  The  rest  of  the  volume  testifies 
equally  to  the  change  which  had  come  over  the  spirit  of 
French  poetry.  It  is  composed  of  paraphrases  of  Psalms,  a 
narrative  poem  entitled  Timandre,  a  translation  ;/;/  peu  para- 
phrasee  of  a  book  of  the  Aineid,  and  there  are  only  twenty- 
seven  sonnets.  The  serious  tone  of  the  volume  is  heightened 
by  the  prevailing  use  of  the  Alexandrine  metre  for  the  lyrical 
poems,  another  link  between  Bertaut  and  Malherbe1.  Three 
stanzas  from  the  paraphrase  of  Psalm  CXLV1II.  will  give  an 
idea  of  Bertaut's  capacity  for  lofty  and  sonorous  verse : 

Heureux  hostes  du  ciel,  sainctes  legions  d'Anges, 
Guerriers  qui  triomphez  du  vice  surmonte, 
Celebrez  a  iamais  du  Seigneur  les  loiianges, 
Et  d'vn  hymne  eternel  honorez  sa  bonte. 

Orageux  tourbillons  qui  portez  les  naufrages 
Aux  vagabonds  vaisseaux  des  tremblants  matelots, 
Te'moignez  son  pouuoir  a  ses  moindres  ouurages, 
Semant  par  l'vniuers  la  grandeur  de  son  Ios. 

Faittes-la  dire  aux  bois  dont  vos  fronts  se  couronnent 
Grands  monts,  qui  comme  Rois  les  plaines  maistrisez  : 
Et  vous  humbles  coustaux  ou  les  pampres  foisonnent, 
Et  vous  ombreux  vallons,  de  sources  arrou 

But  after  citing  these  stanzas  one  must  add  that  it  is  only 
in  occasional  flights  that  Bertaut  reaches  so  high  a  level.  He 
has  even  less  power  than  the  generality  of  the  poets  "f  the 
Pleiad  school  to  distinguish,  at  least  in  his  own  productii 
between  good  and  bad  verse.  When  his  inspiration  deserts 
him  he  sinks  to  the  flattest  prose.     On  the  other  hand  he 

1  The  curious  pamphlet,  Les  Hermaphrodites,  written   about    l600, 
poem  in  stanzas  of  four  Alexandrines. 

2  (Euvres,  pp.  23,  24. 


2jo  THE   YEARS   OF   TRANSITION  [CH. 

more  careful  writer  than  the  majority  of  his  school  ;  he  would 
have  escaped  from  Malherbe's  ruler  with  far  fewer  raps  over 
the  knuckles  than  Desportes  did.  Malherbe  indeed  spoke  of 
him  with  a  certain  approval. 

Finally  he  owes  much  less  than  his  predecessors  to  Italian 
models,  and  when  he  does  turn  to  Italy  for  inspiration  it  is 
neither  to  the  Petrarchian  school  of  Bembo  nor  to  the  fifteenth 
century  concettisti  and  their  later  imitators,  but  to  Tasso, 
whose  Gerusalemme  liberata  and  Aminta  had  appeared  just 
before  Bertaut's  Muse  began  to  assume  a  graver  tone1.  This 
beginning  of  Tasso's  influence  on  non-dramatic  poetry  in 
France  (we  have  already  seen  the  stimulus  given  by  the 
Aminta  to  pastoral  drama)  is  worthy  of  attention.  For  Tasso 
was  the  chief  Italian  representative  of  the  reaction  from  pagan 
to  Christian  sources  of  inspiration  in  poetry,  and  when  France, 
restored  to  peace  and  order,  had  leisure  to  work  out  on  her 
own  lines  a  Catholic  revival,  his  Jerusalem  delivered  became 
the  model  of  numerous  Christian  epics.  But  apart  from  the 
tendencies  of  the  age  the  Italian  poet's  gentle  and  melancholy 
temperament  and  his  definitely  Christian  standpoint  must 
have  touched  in  Bertaut  a  sympathetic  chord. 

Thus  Bertaut,  alike  in  his  preference  for  serious  and 
national  subjects,  and  in  his  comparative  independence  of 
foreign  models,  reproduces  in  poetry  the  same  characteristics 
that  we  have  noticed  chiefly  in  the  prose  of  our  third  period. 
Further  the  prosaic  character  of  his  verse  when  his  inspiration 
deserts  him  is  another  premonition  of  the  narrowing  of  the 
boundary  line  between  verse  and  prose  which  was  to  take 
place  under  Malherbe's  guidance.  Yet  the  breath  of  inspiration 
still  plays  round  Bertaut  ;  in  his  hands  the  lamp  of  true 
poetry  has  not  quite  burned  down2. 

It  is  not  so  with  Du  Perron.  His  poetry  is  of  the  head, 
not  of  the  heart.  Even  his  images  spring  from  the  in- 
tellect  rather  than  from  the   imagination.     His   language  is 

1  See  J.  Vianey  in  Rev.  dhist.  lift.  XI.  (1904),  161.  The  Gerusalemme 
liberata  and  the  Aminta  were  published  in  1581. 

-  Bertaut  was  appointed  to  the  bishopric  of  Seez  in  Normandy  in  1606;  he 
died  in  161 1. 


XXVII]  THE   YEARS    OF    TRANSITION  2J\ 

correct  and  his  rhymes  are  rich  ;  he  is  lucid  and  ingenious  ; 
but  his  well-turned  verses  leave  the  reader  cold.  In  his  own 
day  he  had  an  even  greater  reputation  as  a  writer  of  prose 
than  as  a  writer  of  verse,  and  he  held  a  high  rank  as  orator. 
rhetorician,  and  controversialist.  His  style  varies  with  the 
character  of  his  work.  Thus  in  the  Bref  tnute  de  V Euckaristie, 
which  he  wrote  for  the  conversion  of  M.  de  Sancy1,  it  is  simple 
and  business-like  even  to  baldness,  while  in  his  sermons  and 
other  oratorical  discourses  it  is  decked  out  with  a  display  of 
learning  and  metaphor  not  always  in  good  taste.  But  it  is 
perhaps  in  the  Traite  de  V Eloquence-  that  we  find  his  most 
characteristic  style.  It  is  the  work  of  a  rhetorician  who  is  not 
averse  to  empty  commonplace,  but  it  is  not  badly  written. 
The  somewhat  long  sentences  and  the  redundant  language, 
modelled  on  Cicenr,  are  sixteenth-century  features,  but  the 
well-balanced  periods,  the  clear  and  logical  reasoning,  and  the 
absence  of  metaphor  point  forward  to  seventeenth-century 
prose.  Yet  if  one  compares  Du  Perron  even  with  Jean  Cine/. 
de  Balzac  one  sees  a  marked  inferiority  in  the  workmanship, 
and  one  realises  that  though  Balzac's  first  collection  of  letters 
appeared  only  six  years  after  Du  Perron's  death  (1618), 
French  prose  had  still  much  to  learn  in  its  passage  from 
Montaigne  to  Pascal. 

The  most  famous  controversy  in  which  Du  Perron  was 
engaged  was  that  with  Philippe  Du  Plessis-Mornay*,  the 
"  Pope  of  the  Huguenots,"  at  Fontainebleau  on  the  subje<  t  of 
the  latter's  book  on  the  Eucharist8.  The  vanquished  in  that 
controversy  is  one  of  the  noblest  figures  of  his  age,  but 
though  he  wrote,  or  perhaps  rather  because  he  wrote,  ei 
to  fill  forty  stout  volumes,  he  has  only  attained  to  .1  pla< 
the  outskirts  of  French  literature.     Vet  besides  the  Vindiciae 


1  Les  diverses  CEuvres,  3rd  ed.  16.5,;,  pp.  846  AT.  ;  and  see  ante,  p 

2  id.  759  ff. 

3  Du  Perron  translated  Cicero's  first  v>  tion. 

4  b.  1549,  d.  1623. 

5  See  Feret,  2nd  ed.,  pp.  150  ff.  and,  on  the  opposite  side,  M.  Pa 
Casaubon,  2nd  ed.  1S92,  pp.  1376".,  [875  ;  also  P.  de  I'Estoile,  >  u  1 
—  227  ;  364 — 376.     The  conference  look  place  on  May  4,  i'ioo. 


272  THE   YEARS   OF   TRANSITION  [CH. 

contra  tyrannos  which,  as  we  have  seen,  is  almost  certainly  to 
be  regarded  as  his  work,  one  of  his  treatises,  De  la  verite  de  la 
religion  chrestiennc,  deserves  at  least  a  passing  mention1. 
Begun,  though  not  completed,  before  the  publication  of  the 
first  edition  of  Montaigne's  Essais,  it  is,  like  the  work  of 
Raymond  Sebond,  an  attempt  to  establish  the  truth  of 
Christianity  on  the  basis  of  reason.  An  examination  of  its 
arguments  belongs  to  the  history  of  Christian  Apologetic,  but 
two  general  features  may  be  noticed  here.  First,  the  learning, 
which  ranges  over  a  wide  extent  of  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin 
literature,  is  remarkable  in  an  author  who  was  only  thirty-two 
when  his  work  was  published  and  who  for  the  last  five  years 
had  been  actively  employed  in  the  service  of  the  King  of 
Navarre.  But  we  are  told  that  from  the  age  of  fourteen 
to  that  of  eighteen  he  worked  fourteen  hours  a  day,  and 
his  learning,  though  multifarious,  was  doubtless  uncritical. 
Secondly,  the  style  is  essentially  that  of  the  Protestant  school. 
Built  on  a  solid  framework  of  dialectic,  it  is  clear,  concise,  and 
somewhat  austere.  Like  D'Aubigne,  Mornay  seems  to  have 
been  a  student  of  Tacitus,  for  in  the  interesting  letter  to 
Louise  de  Coligny,  to  which  I  called  attention  in  a  former 
chapter,  he  advises  that  her  son  should  learn  from  Tacitus  to 
compress  (serrer)  his  words  and  sentences2.     But  the  writer  of 


1  Contre  les  Athees,  Epicuriens,  Payens,  /uifs,  Mahumedistcs,  et  autres 
Infideles:  par  Philippes  de  Mornay,  Sieur  du  Plessis  Marly.  Antwerp,  1581;  2nd 
ed.  id.  1582  and  two  other  editions  of  the  same  year;  1583  ;  1585.  Mornay's 
friend,  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  began  an  English  translation,  which  was  completed  by 
Arthur  Golding  and  published  in  1587,  and  a  Latin  translation  by  the  author 
himself  appeared  in  the  same  year.  There  are  some  good  remarks  on  the  work  in 
Sayous  II.  192  ff.  (2nd  ed.  1881). 

2  Ante,  p.  164,  n.  5.  Mornay's  letters,  state-papers,  and  other  short  writings 
are  collected  in  Memoires  de  P.  de  Mornay,  I.  and  II.,  La  Forest  (his  own 
chateau)  1624-5,  in.  and  IV.,  Amsterdam,  1651-2,  and  in  Memoires  el  cor- 
respondance,  12  vols.,  edd.  Vaudore  and  Auguis,  1824-5  (full  of  mistakes  and 
incomplete).  The  Histoire  de  la  vie  de  P.  de  Mornay,  Leyden,  1647,  was 
written  by  David  de  Licques,  a  gentleman  of  his  household.  It  was  based, 
down  to  1606,  on  Mme  de  Mornay's  manuscript.  Licques  himself  died  in 
1616  and  the  work  was  completed  by  another  hand  (Haag,  La  France  Pro- 
testante).  There  is  a  modern  French  life  by  Joachim  Ambert,  a  cavalry 
officer,    1847,   and   an   English   one   by   the   Rev.   R.    B.   Hone,   1834.     Some  of 


XXVII]  THE   YEARS   OF   TRANSITION  2;$ 

state-papers  for  the  King  of  Navarre  must  also  have  had  an 
excellent  practical  training  in  the  art  of  writing  clearly  and 
in  the  fewest  possible  terms.  But  neither  by  the  style  nor 
by  the  substance  of  his  writings,  and  still  less  bv  the'date  of 
their  publication,  can  Mornay  be  said  to  be  a  representative 
of  the  period  of  transition.  He  comes  in  here  rather  as  a  link- 
between  Du  Perron  and  Charron,  whose  first  work  was  in  part 
a  somewhat  belated  answer  to  Mornay 's  Traiti  de  VEglise 
published  in    1578. 

It  appeared  in  1593,  when  the  writer1  was  over  fifty,  under 
the  title  of  Les  trois  vcrith.  Only  the  third  Truth  or  Book 
is  an  answer  to  Du  Plessis-Mornay,  but  it  is  considerably  the 
longest,  forming  two-thirds  of  the  whole  treatise.  It  appeared 
at  an  opportune  moment  and  may  well  have  had  its  share  in 
persuading  the  subjects  of  Henry  IV  to  follow  his  example 
in  abjuring  Protestantism.  For  Charron  puts  the  case  for 
Roman  Catholicism  clearly  and  effectively,  dwelling  on  its 
advantages  in  point  of  antiquity,  continuity,  and  unit}-,  and  on 
the  superiority  of  the  Church  to  the  Scriptures  as  a  final  court 
of  appeal.  The  first  and  second  Truths  treat  respectivelv  of 
religion  and  Christianity,  but  only  in  an  abridged  and  summary 
fashion,  and  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  anything  less  convincing;. 
Religion,  according  to  Charron,  is  a  safe,  comfortable,  and 
useful  thing,  a  line  of  argument  which  might  commend  itself  to 
canons  and  other  church  dignitaries,  but  which  was  hardly 
calculated  to  bring  conviction  to  honest  doubters-'. 

The  whole  treatise  is  a  close  reflexion  of  its  author,  of  his 
love  of  system  and  order,  his  oratorical  training,  his  clear  but 
shallow  intellect,  his  impressionable  and  impulsive  tempi 
ment,  his  lack  of  humour  and  imagination,  his  blundering 
rashness.  Blue-eyed,  red-faced,  with  white  hair  and  beard, 
short  and  stout,  one  can  easily  picture  the  man.      The  son  "t 

Mornay's  letters  are  given  in  Crepet's  Le  trisor  tpistolairt  dc  la  France  ;  l>< 
well  and  forcibly,  but  he  has  neither  the  natural  gift  for  expression  which  mal 
good  letter  writer  nor  the  acquired  art  which  serves  a-  its  substitute. 

1  Pierre  Charron,  b.  1 541 — d.  1603. 

-  For  a  fuller  and  more  appreciative  account  of  Les  0 

Skeptics  of  the  French  Renaissance,  pp.  =  7  i  —   5  7  .=  - 

T     TT 


2/4 


THE   YEARS   OF   TRANSITION  [CH. 


a  Paris  bookseller,  one  of  twenty-five  brothers  and  sisters,  he 
had  first  adopted  the  law  as  a  profession.  But  changing  his 
mind  he  took  orders,  and  acquired  an  enormous  reputation  as 
a  preacher.  About  the  year  1 585  he  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Montaigne,  and  before  long  became  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of 
both  the  man  and  the  Essays.  At  the  close  of  1588  he  was 
suddenly  seized  with  a  desire  to  become  a  monk,  but  being 
refused  admittance  first  by  the  Carthusians  and  then  by  the 
Celestines  he  fell  back  on  the  society  of  Montaigne  and  the 
delights  of  authorship.  The  only  one  of  his  books  which 
retained  its  popularity  for  any  length  of  time  was  La  Sagesse. 
It  was  written  at  Cahors,  where  he  held  the  post  of  theological 
lecturer  to  the  chapter,  during  the  years  1597  and  1598,  and 
was  published  in  the  summer  of  1601  by  Simon  Millanges, 
the  well-known  Bordeaux  printer.  Charron  had  by  this  time 
moved  to  Condom,  that  obscure  Gascon  see  which  is  associated 
with  the  name  of  Bossuet.  He  had  for  some  time  held  the 
post  of  precentor,  and  the  chapter  now  conferred  on  him  the 
theological  lectureship  with  a  canonry  attached.  He  bought 
a  house,  rebuilt  it  and  furnished  it  handsomely,  intending  to 
live  phis  joyeusement  et  gaillardement. 

The  sceptical  character  of  La  Sagesse  aroused  a  good  deal 
of  opposition.  Thereupon  Charron,  wishing  to  procure  the 
formal  approbation  of  the  Sorbonne  for  his  book,  made  certain 
corrections  and  additions,  and  wrote  a  new  preface  explaining 
his  position.  In  the  autumn  of  1603  he  went  to  Paris,  where, 
on  the  1 6th  of  November,  he  was  seized  with  an  apoplectic 
fit  in  the  street,  and  died  on  the  spot.  He  died,  as  Montaigne 
is  said  to  have  done,  in  an  attitude  of  prayer.  The  revised 
edition  of  La  Sagesse  appeared  in  the  following  year  (1604) 
with  the  permission  of  the  Privy  Council1.  Though  certain 
objectionable  passages  were  removed  or  modified  the  general 
character  of  the  book  remained  the  same. 

In  his  preface  to  the  original  edition  Charron  makes  a 
statement  which  it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  at  the  outset.  "  I 
here  add  two  or  three  words  of  good  faith,  one  that  I  have 

1  The  third  edition  (1607)  returned  to  the  original  text,  as  also  did  the  four 
Elzevir  editions,  and  a  Paris  edition  of  1663. 


XXVI I]  THE    YEARS    OF   TRANSITION 


-75 


gone  begging  in  all  directions  {que  jay  queste  par  cy  par  Id) 
and  have  taken  the  greater  part  of  the  materials  for  this  work 
from  the  best  authors  who  have  treated  this  subject  of  morals 
and  politics,  which  is  the  true  science  of  man,  as  well  ancient, 
especially  the  great  doctors  Seneca  and  Plutarch,  as  modern. 
I  have  collected  here  part  of  my  studies  :  the  form  and  the 
order  are  my  own. ...What  I  have  borrowed  from  others  I  have 
put  in  their  own  words,  not  being  able  to  express  it  better." 
These  words  are  literally  true.  Charron  has  taken  his  political 
philosophy  from  Bodin  and  Lipsius,  his  psychology  and  his 
moral  philosophy  from  Seneca  and  Du  Vair,  and  above  all  his 
scepticism  from  Montaigne ;  and  in  the  case  of  the  French 
writers  he  often  copies  them  almost  word  for  word1.  It  must 
be  remembered  that  the  posthumous  edition  of  the  Essays 
had  been  published  only  two  years  before  he  began  to  write 
his  book,  and  that  doubtless,  as  a  close  friend  of  Montaigne, 
he  had  re-read  the  Essays  in  their  amplified  form  with  renewed 
admiration.  This  would  account  in  a  man  of  his  impulsive 
and  uncritical  temperament  for  the  deep  impression  which 
Montaigne's  views  appear  to  have  now  made  on  him  compared 
with  the  comparatively  few  traces  of  their  influence  that  we 
find  in  Les  trois  Verites. 

The  object  of  La  Sagesse  is  to  teach  man  to  se  bien 
connaitre,  bien  vivre  et  bien  mourir,  which  according  to 
Montaigne  is  the  aim  of  all  education  and  instruction-'.  The 
First  book3  accordingly  begins  with  what  is  meant  to  be  a 
complete  physiological  and  psychological  account  of  man,  of 
which  the  most  important  part,  the  psychology,  is  mainly 
borrowed,  often  word  for  word,  from  Du  Vair's  La  philosophic 
morale  des  Stoiques*.  This  is  followed  by  a  more  general 
consideration  of  man,  firstly  in  comparison  with  other  animals, 
secondly  in  his  life,  and  thirdly  in  his  morals,  the  whole  ol  this 

1  See  A.  Delboulle,  Charron  plagiaire  de  Montaigne  in   Rev.  (Thist.  litt.  VII. 

(1900),  pp.  184  ff. 
-  Essais,  I.   xxv. 

3  Le  premier  livre  enseigne  a  se  cognoistre  et  Vhumain 
fondement  de  Sagesse. 

4  cc.  18—33  :  CC.  15  and  16  are  from  Du  Vair's  Trait, 


2-6  THE   YEARS   OF   TRANSITION  [CH. 

part  being  a  rechauffe  of  Montaigne's  tirades  on  the  vanity  of 
human  nature  in  a  highly  dogmatic  and  exaggerated  form1. 
Man  emerges  from  Charron's  hands  lower  than  the  beasts  ; 
vain,  inconstant,  incapable  of  attaining  either  to  virtue  or  to 
truth,  steeped  in  misery,  and,  worst  of  all,  with  a  presumptuous 
belief  in  himself  as  the  centre  of  the  universe.  Never  was  the 
vanity  of  human  nature  proclaimed  in  such  tones  of  arrogant 
and  uncompromising  assertion  as  by  this  professor  of  scepti- 
cism. The  rest  of  the  First  book  is  occupied  with  an 
account  of  man  as  a  social  and  political  being,  for  which 
Charron  is  largely  indebted  to  Bodin. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  words  of  the  preface,  quoted 
above,  are  in  strict  accordance  with  the  facts.  The  only 
original  feature  of  the  first  book  is  "  the  form  and  the  order," 
and  for  this  Charron  is  entitled  to  some  credit.  If  M. 
Bonnefon's  remark  that  "  he  has  an  instinct  for  psychology  " 
is  too  favourable,  since  his  psychology  is  mostly  borrowed,  it 
may  be  said  with  perfect  truth  that  he  has  an  instinct  for 
classification.  He  revels  in  divisions  and  subdivisions  and 
tabulated  statements-,  which  is  all  the  more  remarkable  in  an 
ardent  admirer  of  Montaigne,  and  in  one  who  grew  up  to 
manhood  in  an  age  when  method  and  order  were  the  last 
things  with  which  writers  concerned  themselves. 

The  Second  book  of  La  Sagesse  is  at  once  the  shortest  and 
the  most  interesting.  Having  shewn  what  man  is,  Charron 
now  proceeds  to  guide  him  on  the  path  to  Wisdom.  He  must 
first  free  himself  from  all  vices  and  passions,  from  all  popular 
errors  and  prejudices,  and  thus  acquire  complete  liberty  both 
of  judgment  and  will.  He  will  then  be  ready,  like  a  clean 
sheet  of  paper,  to  receive  the  impressions  of  Wisdom.  Now 
the  principal  and  essential  part  of  Wisdom  is  prucThomie  or 
probity,  and  true  flnid'/tomie  consists  in  following  nature, 
which  is  the  first  and  fundamental  law  of  God.  "  Men  are 
naturally  good."  But  Charron  has  already  told  us  at  great 
length  that  men  are  naturally  bad,  and  that  they  are  incapable 
of  virtue  or  knowledge.     How  does  he  reconcile  this  glaring 

1  cc.  34—40. 

2  Des  divisions  de  Cliarron  qui  attristent  et  ennuient.     Pascal.  Pen 


XXVII]  THE   YEARS   OF   TRANSITION 

contradiction  ?  As  we  have  seen,  the  same  contradiction  is 
practically  to  be  found  in  Montaigne,  who  writes  with  equal 
eloquence  on  the  vanity  of  man  and  on  the  excellence  of 
nature  and  reason.  But  Montaigne  never  dreamt  of  giving 
to  the  world  a  complete  system  of  philosophy  and  did 
not  in  the  least  mind  being  inconsistent.  He  wrote  as 
his  fancy  prompted  him,  now  as  a  sceptic,  now  as  an 
admirer  of  Stoic  morality.  But  when  his  "  vagabond :' 
thoughts  are  arranged  and  classified,  when  they  are  repeated 
with  the  exaggeration  of  a  rhetorician  and  the  dogmatism  of 
a  preacher,  then  the  inconsistencies  assume  a  different  aspect. 
Had  Charron  contented  himself  with  constructing  on 
lines  a  system  of  positive  morality  independent  of  revealed 
religion  he  might  have  deserved  all  the  praise  which  some 
writers  bestow  on  him.  But  before  proceeding  to  build 
he  carefully  undermined  his  foundations,  and  the  result  is 
an  edifice,  of  fair  proportions  indeed,  but  tottering  to  its 
fall. 

The  Third  book  treats  of  the  four  cardinal  virtues,  and  a 
good  deal  of  it  is  mere  repetition  of  what  has  gone  befi  ire. 
One  of  the  chapters  deals  with  education  but  is  little  more 
than  an  orderly  arrangement  of  Montaigne's  fruitful  but 
somewhat  disconnected  ideas.  It  is  characteristic  of  the 
distorted  and  exaggerated  form  that  Charron  gives  to  his 
master's  utterances  that  he  says,  that  learning  and  wisdom  are 
as  a  rule  incompatible,  and  that  with  very  few  exceptions  a 
learned  man  is  never  wise  and  a  wise  man  never  learned1. 
Charron's  style  is  clear,  logical,  and  fairly  expressive.  Hut  it 
is  emphatically  the  style  of  a  trained  rhetorician,  verbose  and 
diffuse,  somewhat  monotonous,  and  with  little  or  no  charm. 

It  has  been  not  unnaturally  asked  whether  this  dignitary 
of  the  Church  and  successful  preacher,  who  published  in  the 
same  year  as  De  la  Sagessc  a  volume  of  sermons  entitled 
Discoitrs  chrestiens,  was  a  traitor  within  the  Christian  camp  or 
a  blunderer  who  did  not   comprehend   the   drift   of  hi-  own 

1   III.  c.  xiv.  §  14.     Another  characteristic  of  the  differ  """< 

and    his  master  is  the  inscription  which    he   put  0 
Condom— Je  ne  scay,  instead  of  Que  scay-jc? 


278  THE   YEARS   OF   TRANSITION  [CH. 

book.  I  believe  the  latter  to  be  the  true  explanation.  In 
spite  of  the  reckless  and  all-embracing  scepticism  of  De  la 
Sagesse,  there  are  passages  in  it  which  shew  that  Charron  was  at 
heart  an  orthodox  Christian1.  Though  in  writing  his  book  he 
was  partly  prompted  by  a  foolish  ambition  to  pose  as  an 
esprit  fort,  he  had  also  another  motive,  which  in  itself  was 
most  praiseworthy.  This  was  to  provide  a  system  of  moral 
conduct  for  those  persons  who  either  disbelieved  in  revealed 
religion  altogether,  or  regarded  it  as  having  no  concern  with 
conduct  and  morality.  For  the  divorce  between  religion  and 
morality  was,  as  Charron  saw,  the  crying  evil  of  the  day,  the 
very  root  of  the  rottenness  and  moral  decay  which  were  eating 
out  the  heart  of  France.  Probity  without  religion,  and  religion 
without  probity,  are,  he  declared,  alike  insufficient.  But  his 
proposed  remedy  is  characteristic  of  his  want  of  real  insight. 
Instead  of  pointing  out  that  the  Christian  religion  is  concerned 
with  conduct,  and  that  the  true  Christian  must  necessarily  be 
an  honest  man  and  a  good  citizen,  he  maintains  that  piety  and 
probity,  religion  and  prudlwmie  belong  to  wholly  different 
spheres,  and  that,  though  these  must  be  united,  they  must 
not  be  confused2.  First  acquire  probity  and  then  add  to  this 
the  grace  of  piety.  First  become  a  honest  man  and  then 
become  a  Christian.  Moreover  this  attempt  to  construct  a 
moral  code  on  Stoic  lines  independently  of  revealed  religion 
and  of  the  rewards  and  punishments  of  a  future  life  was, 
however  praiseworthy,  not  original,  for  it  had  been  already 
made  by  Du  Vair. 

It  was  the  sceptical  side  of  Charron's  book  which  gave  it 
popularity,  and  made  it  as  great  a  favourite  as  the  Essays 
with  the  sceptics  of  the  next  generation,  with  La  Mothe  le 
Vayer  and  Gassendi,  with  Saint-Evremond  and  Ninon  de 
Lenclos.  But  the  era  of  orthodoxy  which  began  with  the 
personal  government  of  Louis  XIV  was  fatal  to  Charron's 
reputation,  and  no  edition  of  De  la  Sagesse  was  published 
between  1663  and  17692.     In  England  his  fame  was  of  longer 

1  As  for  instance  liv.  n.  c.  iii.  §§  21,  22,  where  he  treats  of  repentance  in  a 
much  more  Christian  spirit  than  Montaigne. 
-  II.  c.  v.  §§  25—28. 


XXVII]  THE   YEARS    OF    TRANSITION  279 

duration,  and  he  found  favour  alike  with  orthodox  and  sceptic. 
A  future  Dean  of  Canterbury,  George  Stanhope,  translated 
De  la  Sagesse1 ;  Bolingbroke  often  refers  to  him ;  while  Pope, 
doubtless  on  the  authority  of  Bolingbroke,  couples  in  his  verse 
Montaigne  with  "  more  sage  Charron."  It  was  however  left 
to  Buckle  in  the  nineteenth  century  to  proclaim  in  sober  prose 
that  "  on  the  most  important  subjects  Charron  was  a  bolder 
and  deeper  thinker  than  Montaigne-.'" 

Guillaume  du  Vair3,  to  whom  Charron  was  indebted  for 
some  of  his  borrowed  plumes,  is,  at  any  rate  from  the 
historical  point  of  view,  the  most  important  writer  of  this 
period  of  transition.  On  the  one  hand  he  touches  Pasquier, 
La  Noue,  and  the  Satire  Menippee,  on  the  other  Malherbe, 
St  Francois  de  Sales,  Balzac,  and  Descartes.  On  Malherbe 
indeed,  with  whom  he  was  intimate  when  the)-  were  both 
living  at  Aix  in  Provence,  he  exercised,  as  M.  Brunot  has 
shewn,  an  appreciable  influence.  He  was  born  in  1556.  aiul 
having  adopted,  first  an  ecclesiastical,  and  then  a  legal  career, 
was  appointed  in  1584  a  councillor  of  the  Paris  Parliament. 
On  the  death  of  Henry  III  he  was  compelled  to  stay  in  Paris 
by  the  paralytic  condition  of  his  father.  Siding  at  first  with 
the  moderate  or  national  section  of  the  Leaguers  he  before 
long  joined  the  party  of  the  Politiques.  As  one  of  the 
deputies  for  Paris  at  the  Estates  of  1593  he  protested  against 
the  proposal  of  the  Spanish  Leaguers  to  violate  the  Salic 
law  by  conferring  the  crown  on  the  Spanish  Infanta,  ami 
a  few  days  later  the  Parliament  of  Paris  passed,  <>n  his 
initiative,  a  resolution  in  favour  of  maintaining  that  law. 
It  was  on  this  occasion  that  he  delivered  his  most  famous 
speech. 

His  principal  writings  all  belong  to  this  dark   period  of 

1  3  vols.   1697.     Stanhope  was  a  Fellow  of  Kir  ,  Cambridg 

like  Charron  a  successful  preacher.     There  is   an  older   translation  by   - 
Lennard,  the  friend  of  Sir   Philip  Sidney,   who   was    with  In...  at   the   battle  of 
Zutphen. 

-  History  of  Civilisation  in  England,  l.  475  '•'■     M  ■  Stopfer  <! 

point,   out   that   the   passage  which   Hackle  adduces    as   evide. ■    «  harroni 

superiority  is  borrowed  from  Bodin. 

a  b.    1556— d.    1621. 


280  THE   YEARS   OF   TRANSITION  [CH. 

his  country's  fortunes  when  it  came  near  to  becoming  a 
dependence  of  Spain.  Thus  they  are  all  more  or  less  inspired 
by  a  sense  of  the  nation's  peril.  His  earliest  treatises  are 
little  more  than  attempts  to  find  in  literature  and  philosophy 
a  distraction  from  the  public  ills,  but  his  later  ones  have  a 
definite  message  of  hope  and  encouragement  for  his  country- 
men. La  sainte  philosophic^  belongs  to  the  former  class  :  the 
latter  may  be  said  to  open  with  a  translation  of  the  Enchiridion, 
or  manual,  of  Epictetus,  pour  affermir  nos  esprits  en  un  tcl 
temps  que  cestuy-ci.  This  was  followed  by  LaplulosopJiie  morale 
des  Stoiques,  based,  for  the  most  part,  on  the  teaching  of 
Epictetus,  but  coloured  by  the  writer's  own  Christianity.  In 
a  notable  passage  he  exhorts  his  readers  to  patriotism,  saying 
that  the  love  of  country  should  come  next  to  the  love  of  God. 
The  same  note  is  struck  in  the  Exhortation  a  la  vie  civile, 
a  short  treatise  of  a  dozen  pages  addressed  to  a  certain 
M.  de  L.2,  who  contemplated  retiring  to  a  monastery  in  order 
to  avert  his  gaze  from  the  horrors  of  the  civil  wars  and  to 
spend  the  rest  of  his  life  in  the  service  of  God.  From  this 
course  Du  Vair  strongly  dissuades  him,  urging  the  claims  of 
his  unhappy  country  and  the  duty  of  not  giving  way  to 
despair. 

The  same  topic  forms  the  governing  idea  of  his  longest 
and  most  important  treatise,  De  la  Constance  et  consolation 
es  calamitcz  pnbliqnes.  Written  apparently  in  September  or 
October,  15903,  it  consists  of  three  dialogues  which  the  writer 
and  three  friends  (whom  he  calls  Musee,  Orphee,  and  Linus) 
are  supposed  to  have  held  during  the  siege  of  Paris4.  The 
first  dialogue  contains  an  eloquent  passage  on  the  mutability 
of  human  things,  and  on  the  consequent  decay  which  inevit- 
ably  awaits  all   kingdoms   and  empires.     Possibly,  says  the 

1  His  earliest  treatise,  Meditation  sur  sept  Pseaumes,  is  dedicated  to  M.  de 
Breye,  Bishop  of  Meaux,  who  died  in  1588.  This  was  followed  by  La  saiute 
philosophic  (see  prefatory  epistle),  dedicated  to  his  father,  who  died  in  1592. 

2  According  to  M.  Cougny  his  name  was  Lomenie. 

3  Christophe  de  Thou,  who  died  on  November  1,  1582,  is  referred  to  as 
having  been  dead  nearly  eight  years.  The  treatise  was  not  published,  so  far  as 
we  know,  till  1594. 

4  April  to  end  of  August,    1590. 


XXVII]  THE   YEARS   OF   TRANSITION 

writer,  France  too  is  approaching  the  end  of  her  term,  but 
she  has  recovered  from  equally  severe  maladies,  and  there  is 
great  hope  from  the  courage  and  the  clemency  of  her  lawful 
king,  Henry  IV.  The  second  dialogue  is  of  a  more  philo- 
sophical character,  dealing  with  the  difficult  and  still  unsolved 
problems  of  necessity  and  free-will,  of  the  Divine  government 
of  the  world,  of  the  existence  of  evil,  and  of  the  punishment 
of  the  innocent  for  the  sins  of  their  predecessors.  The  third 
dialogue  opens  with  a  criticism  on  those  who  make  submis- 
sion to  providence  a  pretext  for  not  attempting  to  stem 
public  calamities  ;  and  this  leads  to  an  interesting  apol 
on  behalf  of  those  who  while  opposed  to  the  League 
and  recognising  Henry  IV  as  their  lawful  monarch  found 
themselves  compelled  by  circumstances  to  remain  in  Paris. 
Finally,  one  of  the  speakers  gives  an  account  of  the  death  of 
Christophe  de  Thou,  the  First  President  of  the  Paris  Parlia- 
ment and  the  father  of  the  historian,  putting  into  his  mouth 
a  remarkable  discourse  in  which  are  to  be  found  the  germ  of 
the  Cartesian  doctrine  of  intuitive  knowledge  and  an  eloquent 
demonstration  of  immortality  based  on  the  spiritual  nature 
of  the  soul. 

Du  Vair's  next  treatise  is  of  a  totally  different  character, 
but  it  deals  with  a  subject  which  his  former  writings  shew  that 
he  was  well  qualified  to  treat.  It  was  entitled  De  {'eloquence 
francoise  et  des  raisons  et  pourquoy  elk  est  demcttrcc  si  basse',  and 
must  have  been  written  either  in  1592  or  early  in  15 
Du  Vair  assigns  two  reasons  for  the  inferiority  of  French 
eloquence,  the  practice  of  interlarding  speeches  with  quota- 
tions from  classical  writers,  and  the  want  of  emotion  on  the 
part  of  the  speakers.  He  recommends  as  essential  studies 
for  the  orator  dialectic,  ethics,  and  psychology,  but  he 
considers  the  imitation  of  the  finest  speeches  ol  antiquity 
more  helpful  than  any  manual  of  rhetoric.  With  tin's  i 
he  has  appended  to  his  treatise  translations  of  three  famous 

1  It  was  written  after  the  death  of  President  Bri  1591)1  «>d  before 

the  conversion  of  Henry  IV  (July  1593),  and  was  published,  without 
name,  by  Abel  L'Angelier,  before  March   1.=  ,    1594  (Pasquier,  10). 

The  earliest  known  edition  is  of  1595' 


282  THE  YEARS   OF   TRANSITION  [CH. 

speeches,  that  of  Demosthenes  On  the  Crown,  that  of 
^Eschines  Against  Ctesipfion,  and  that  of  Cicero  On  behalf 
of  Milo. 

Among  the  forensic  speakers  of  Du  Vair's  own  day  the 
highest  place  was  generally  assigned  to  Guy  du  Faur  de 
Pibrac1.  But  Du  Vair  says  that  his  eloquence  was  marred 
by  the  common  fault  of  making  a  display  of  erudition 
by  long  quotations  from  ancient  authors.  We  learn  from 
Estienne  Pasquier  in  an  interesting  chapter  of  the  RecJier- 
cJics  de  la  France'1  that  the  originator  of  this  practice  was 
Christophe  de  Thou.  There  was  no  greater  offender  than 
his  successor  as  First  President,  the  great  Achille  de  Harlay, 
and  another  offender,  according  to  Du  Vair,  was  Barnabe 
Brisson,  the  unfortunate  President  who  was  hung  by  the 
Sixteen. 

The  reputation  of  the  above-mentioned  speakers  was 
chiefly  gained  on  the  Bench.  Among  those  who  adorned  the 
Bar  Du  Vair  mentions  Pierre  Versoris,  who  was  celebrated 
for  his  speech  on  behalf  of  the  Jesuits  in  their  famous  lawsuit 
with  the  University  (1565 ):!,  Jacques  Faye,  seigneur  d'Espesse, 
Claude  Mangot,  and  his  son  Jacques4.  But  he  says  nothing 
either  of  Versoris's  more  famous  opponent,  Estienne  Pasquier5, 
or  of  Pasquier's  friend,  Antoine  Loisel6,  who  wrote  an  account 
of  the  contemporary  Bar  under  the  title  of  Pasquier  on 
Dialogue  des  Advocats  du  Parlemcnt  de  Paris'.  Nor  does 
he  mention  Simon  Marion,  whose  reputation  stood  perhaps 
highest  of  all.  Cardinal  du  Perron  declared  that  he  believed 
him  to   be    the    greatest    advocate   since   Cicero8.     Another 

1  See  ante,  pp.   43 — 45. 

'-'  IV.  c.  27  and  cf.  Lettrcs,  VII.    12. 

:1  His  real  name  was  Le  Tourneur. 

4  Cf.    Pasquier,  Recherches,  loc.  at. 

5  See  A.  Demarche,  L1 University  de  Paris  et  les  Jesuites,  1888,  pp.  77—88. 
Pasquier's  speech  is  printed  in  his  Recherches,  book  III.  c.  44 ;  and  that  of 
Versoris,  though  apparently  only  in  a  summary  form,  in  the  Amsterdam  edition 
of  Pasquier's  (Euvres,  I.   1102   ff. 

8  b.  1536— d.  161 7. 

7  1652;  ed.  Dupin  aine  in  Loisel's  Opuscules,  1844. 

8  Depuis  Ciceron  je  crois  qiCil  ny  a  pas  eu  cfavocat  tel  qtte  lui,  cited  by 
Sainte-Beuve,  Port-Royal,  6th  ed.  I.  61. 


XXVII]  THE   YEARS   OF   TRANSITION 

advocate  of  high  repute  as  a  speaker  was  Marion's  son- 
in-law,  Antoine  Arnaud,  who  made  his  reputation  after 
the  publication  of  Du  Vair's  treatise  as  counsel  for  the 
University  of  Paris  in  their  second  action  against  the  Jesuits. 
His  speech,  which  someone  wittily  called  the  original  sin  of 
the  Arnaud  family,  is,  like  his  pamphlet,  the  Anti-Espagnol\ 
a  passionate  invective2.  It  contains  several  passages  of  bad 
taste,  but  this  is  a  fault  which  Arnaud  shares  with  nearly 
every  writer  of  his  age,  and  with  the  greatest  speakers  of  all 
ages,  with  Demosthenes,  Cicero,  and  Burke. 

Of  the  two  other  branches  of  his  subject,  political  and 
pulpit  oratory,  Du  Vair  practically  says  nothing.  The  latter, 
when  he  wrote  his  treatise,  had  sunk  very  low  in  the  hands  of 
the  League  preachers,  who  had  made  it  a  school  of  vulgar 
abuse  and  buffoonery.  The  only  preacher  at  this  time  who 
had  a  reputation  for  serious  eloquence  was  Pierre  Charron, 
but  none  of  his  sermons  have  come  down  to  us.  After  the 
final  defeat  of  the  League,  pulpit  oratory,  which  for  nearly  two 
centuries  had  been  almost  entirely  neglected  by  the  Catholic 
Church  in  France,  began  to  be  carefully  cultivated.  It  was 
one  of  the  signs  of  the  approaching  Catholic  revival,  and 
Du  Perron,  whose  controversial  powers  we  have  seen  exercised 
so  actively  on  behalf  of  his  Church,  was  also  conspicuous  as  a 
preacher.  Only  two  specimens  of  his  actual  sermons  have 
survived3,  but  the  funeral  panegyric  on  Ronsard  already 
mentioned  and  a  Spiritual  discourse  delivered  before  tin- 
King4  may  be  classed  under  the  same  head.  Though 
Du  Perron's  rhetorical  merit  is  considerable  his  lack  <>f 
genuine  moral  fervour  prevents  him  from  being  really 
eloquent3. 

But  this  was  the  dawn  of  the  greatest  school  of  pulpit  <  oratory 
that  France,  or  even  modern  Europe,  has  ever  seen.     I  m  the 


1  See  ante,  p.  232. 

2  Plaidoye  de  M.  Antoine  Arnanld,  1594.    See  Douan  he,  op.  'it.  \<y-  1 10     1  19, 
and  for  Arnauld  generally,  Fiomem,  ].]>.   1  47      : 1  >>  :  >.  nV.  I.  64  ff. 

3  CEuvres,    1633,  681   ff.,   and  694  II. 

4  ib.   651   ff.  and   553  ff. 

5  Bertaut  was  also  of  >oine  repute 


284  THE   YEARS   OF   TRANSITION  [CH. 

other  hand  political  oratory  in  France  was  declining  to  a  long 
night.  In  this  branch  of  the  art  the  two  most  distinguished 
names  of  the  century  were  Michel  de  l'Hospital  and  Du  Vair 
himself.  The  best  speech  of  L'Hospital,  so  far  as  one  can 
judge  from  somewhat  imperfect  reports,  was  his  opening  address 
as  Chancellor  at  the  Estates  of  St  Germain  in  August,  1561, 
which  contains  the  celebrated  utterance  that  a  man  may  be 
a  citizen  without  being  a  Christian1.  That  with  which  he 
opened  the  Estates  at  Orleans  in  December,  1560,  is  longer 
and  more  ambitious,  but  on  the  whole  inferior2.  His  faults 
are  much  the  same  as  those  of  the  forensic  speakers  of  his  day, 
display  of  classical  learning,  and  a  tendency  to  wander  off 
into  vague  generalities  instead  of  sticking  to  the  argument. 
Du  Vair  is  certainly  a  more  effective  speaker.  If  the  speech 
which  he  delivered  after  the  barricades  of  1588  has  the  same 
fault  of  vagueness,  and  suffers  also  from  over-elaboration, 
especially  in  the  use  of  metaphor,  his  later  speeches  shew  a 
marked  improvement.  The  short  one  in  which  he  protested 
against  the  admission  of  a  Spanish  garrison  into  Paris  is 
excellent,  and  so  is  the  longer  and  more  famous  one  in  defence 
of  the  Salic  law.  Du  Vair  has  something  of  the  breadth  of 
tone,  the  largeness  of  utterance,  and  the  fervent  glow  of  his 
model  Demosthenes,  qualities  which  spring  in  both  cases  from 
a  lofty  and  whole-hearted  patriotism3. 

Henry  IV  recognised  Du  Vair's  services  by  appointing 
him  a  Master  of  Requests  and  sending  him,  in  the  spring  of 
1 596,  on  a  mission  to  England,  while  later  in  the  same  year 
he  entrusted  him  with  the  difficult  task  of  pacifying  Provence. 
Having  done  this  successfully  Du  Vair  was  appointed  in  1598 
First  President  of  the  Parliament  of  Aix,  where  he  resided 
till  1616,  when  Marie  de'  Medici,  the  Queen-mother,  recalled 
him  to  Paris  as  Keeper  of  the  Seals.  He  only  held  them  on 
this  occasion  for  five  months,  but  after  the  murder  of  Concini 
in     1617    he    was    re-appointed    by    Louis    XIII,    who   also 

1  (Euvres,  ed.  Dufey,   1.  441 — 453. 

2  ib-  375—407- 

3  Du  Vair's  speeches  were  first  published  by  L'Angelier  in    1606  under  the 
title  of  Actions  et  traictez  Oratoires. 


XXVII]  THE    YEARS    OF   TRANSITION  285 

conferred    on    him    the    bishopric    of   Lisieux.      He   died    in 
1 62 1. 

Eloquence  is  at  once  Du  Yair's  chief  merit  as  a  writer 
and  his  stumbling-block.  His  finest  passages  are  all  eloquent 
in  character  ;  on  the  other  hand  he  too  often  degenerates  into 
declamation  and  commonplace.  From  the  historical  point 
of  view  his  style  is  worth  attention,  for  though  he  is  neither 
a  highly  original  thinker  nor  a  writer  of  genius,  he  has 
something  to  say  and  can  say  it  well,  and  he  may  therefore 
be  taken  as  a  good  representative  of  this  transitional  period. 
While  his  language  retains  the  vigour  and  picturesque- 
ness  of  the  sixteenth  century,  he  writes  clearly  and  lucidly, 
avoiding  as  a  rule  the  long  sentences  which  lead  his  pre- 
decessors astray.  But  compare  him  with  Jean  Guez  de 
Balzac  and  one  sees  at  once  how  far  he  falls  short  of  the 
finished  art  of  seventeenth-century  prose.  Of  those  qualitie- 
for  which  Balzac  was  especially  admired,  the  careful  choice  of 
his  words  and  phrases  and  the  equilibrium  and  harmony  <>f 
his  periods,  qualities  which  he  was  the  first  to  introduce 
systematically  into  French  prose,  and  which  have  ever  since 
been  its  chief  glory,  there  is  hardly  a  trace  in  Du  Yair.  In 
the  following  passage  we  see  him  at  his  best : 

Mais  pource  que  les  loix  sans  jugemens  sont  inutiles,  et  comme 
paroles  mortes,  il  faut  en  tirer  profit,  clone  toutes  nos  iournees  par  une 
censure  et   examen  de  nos  actions,  les  espluchans  tous  les  soils,  pour 

voir  ce  qui  en  est  conforme  aux  reigles  que  je  vous  ay  proposce-^ Si 

nous  trouvons  que  tout  aille  comme  il  doit,  et  que  tout  y  soil  conforme  a 
ces  sainctes  loix  la,  nous  recevrons  une  secrette  rejouyssance 
ame,  que  nous  cueillirons  comme  le  doux  fruict  de  nostre  innocenci       I  C 
sera   la,  a   mon   advis,  un  cantique  nocturne  le   plus  melodieux,  et    le 
plus  agreable  que  nous  puissions  chanter  a  Dieu....  Mais  pource  qui-  la 
nature  des  choses  crees  porte  par  son  infirmite-  que  le  bien  don: 
les  doue  en  leur  naissance  se  define  et  consomme  de  soy  mesme  jour 
nellement,  sinon  qu'il  soit  continuellement  reparc  et  soustenu  pat   1«-  flux 
ordinaire  de  sa  bonte',  et  que  nos  forces  ne  sefont  pas  suffisanti 
mesmes  a  nous  conserver  en  cette  perfection,  adjoustons  a  ce  premiei 
cantique  un  Epode  et  sacre  enchantement,   pour   invoquer   la   divine 
faveur...luy  disant  :    O  Dieu  tout  bon,  tout  sage,  et  tout  puissant ' 

1  Printed  from  a  Paris  edition,   1  :"■"..   1618. 


286  THE   YEARS   OF   TRANSITION  [CH. 

Two  contemporaries  of  Du  Vair  who  like  him  served 
Henry  IV  with  diligence  and  distinction  deserve  honourable 
mention  as  having  furthered  the  developement  of  French 
prose  in  the  direction  of  lucidity  and  precision.  "  Cardinal 
d'Ossat1  and  President  Jeannin2,"  wrote  Lord  Chesterfield  to 
his  son,  "  will  not  only  inform  your  mind  but  form  your  style." 
But  their  writings  consist  solely  of  dispatches  and  state-papers, 
and,  however  much  they  may  deserve  the  praise  of  having 
introduced  into  the  language  of  diplomacy  a  grammatical 
correctness  and  logical  precision  hitherto  unknown  to  it,  they 
cannot  be  said — and  it  is  no  blame  to  them — to  have  imparted 
to  their  reports  any  special  charm  or  individuality.  Cardinal 
d'Ossat  who  played  an  important  part  in  the  negotiations 
with  the  Holy  See  consequent  on  the  conversion  of  Henry  IV 
was  for  some  ten  years  the  representative  of  France  at  the 
Vatican.  His  letters  addressed  to  Villeroy,  the  Secretary  of 
State,  were  published  in  1624.  The  Negotiations  of  President 
Jeannin  written  in  the  two  years,  1607- 1609,  during  which  he 
was  employed  in  negotiating  the  truce — it  was  a  peace  in  all 
but  name — between  the  Netherlands  and  Spain,  were  not 
published  till  1656,  the  year  which  saw  the  appearance  of  the 
first  great  monument  of  modern  French  prose,  Les  lettres 
provinciates.  Even  as  writers  of  dispatches  D'Ossat  and 
Jeannin  are  hardly  the  equal  of  Du  Vair,  whose  letters  to 
Henry  IV3  are  characterised  by  a  straightforward  brevity, 
not  always  present  in  his  more  ambitious  efforts. 

Of  all  the  works  which  saw  the  light  during  this  period 
of  the  reign  of  Henry  IV  none  is  more  thoroughly  imbued 
with  the  spirit  of  the  monarch  himself  than  the  Theatre 
d'Agricult?tre  et  Mesnage  des  Champs  of  Olivier  de  Serres4. 
The  statement  in  Scaliger's  Table-talk  that  Henry  had  the 
book  read  to  him  for  half  an  hour  after  dinner  every  day  for 
three  or  four  months  may  or  may  not  be  true,  but  he  certainly 
gave  it  a  hearty  welcome  ;  for  it  treated  of  an  industry  upon 

1  b.   1536— d.   1604.  -  b.    1540 — d.    1622. 

;  M.  Sapey  prints  thirty-one  of  these,  together  with  eight  addressed  to  other 
persons,  including  an  admirable  one  to  Villeroy  on  the  subject  of  the  Satire 
Menippk.  *  b.   1539— d.  i6ro. 


XXVIl]  THE   YEARS   OF   TRANSITION 

which  the  regeneration  of  his  kingdom  largely  depended  and 
which  the  restoration  of  peace  and  order  had  made  possible 
to  take  in  hand  with  hope  and  energy.  The  writer  was  an 
elder  brother  of  the  historian,  Jean  de  Serres,  and  like  him  a 
Protestant.  During  the  greater  part  of  the  civil  wars  he  had 
resided  on  his  estate,  which  was  a  considerable  one,  at 
Le  Pradel  in  the  Vivarais1,  spending  his  time  in  its  cultivation 
and  in  the  study  of  books.  He  thus  realised  the  project 
which  Montaigne  announced  with  such  pomp,  but  which  he 
carried  out  with  only  partial  success.  Like  Montaigne  he  was 
a  student  of  ancient  literature,  especially  of  Latin  writers 
on  agriculture  and  kindred  subjects,  Virgil,  Pliny,  Cato, 
Columella,  and  Palladius.  Plutarch's  Lives  were  also  familiar 
to  him,  and  he  is  fond  of  citing  instances  of  Roman  statesmen 
who,  after  the  turmoil  of  war  or  politics,  retired  to  the 
cultivation  of  their  estates. 

His  book,  to  which  he  had  given  thirty  years,  was  first 
published  in  1600,  and  there  were  other  editions  in  1603, 
1605,  1608  and  16232.  Its  scope  is  much  wider  than  that  of 
an  ordinary  treatise  on  agriculture  ;  it  is  in  fact  a  complete 
manual  of  the  management  of  a  landed  estate.  It  might 
fitly  have  been  called  The  country  gentleman,  a  pendant 
to  Castiglione's  Courtier.  It  not  only  embraces  agriculture  in 
its  widest  sense,  including  horticulture  in  all  its  forms,  water- 
supply,  and  forestry,  but  it  considers  such  questions  as  the 
management  of  servants  and  the  duties  of  the  mistress  of  the 
house.  For  an  estate  in  those  days  was  a  self-contained 
kingdom  and  its  ruler  had  to  know  something  of  everything. 
Thus  one  chapter  contains  recipes  for  every  imaginable  kind 
of  preserve,  while  others  are  devoted  to  remedies,  not  only  for 
all  human  diseases  from  the  plague  to  corns,  but  for  those  of 
every  animal  on  the  estate.  Thus  if  De  Serres's  book  i-> 
chiefly  of  a  technical  character,  it  embraces  at  any  rate  a 
considerable  variety  of  topics,  some  of  which  are  of  fairly 
general  interest.  For  the  student  of  social  life  it  ofl 
most  instructive  picture  of  rural   France  at  that  period,  while 

1  It  is  near  Villeneuve  de  Berg. 

2  The  chapter  on  silkworms  (book  v.  c.  xx)  was  publi  I 


288  THE   YEARS   OF   TRANSITION  [CH. 

underlying  the  whole  there  is  a  substratum  of  human  emotion, 
which  occasionally  finds  its  way  to  the  surface,  especially  in 
the  first  and  last  books. 

The  orderly  arrangement  of  the  topics  reminds  one  of 
De  la  Sagesse,  and  each  book  is  preceded  by  a  classification 
of  the  chapters  worthy  of  Charron  himself.  The  style 
is  unaffected  and  exceedingly  lucid,  but  without  any  of  the 
aridity  which  one  associates  with  the  writers  of  Calvin's 
school.  De  Serres,  in  fact,  though  a  Protestant,  belongs  rather 
to  the  school  of  Rabelais  ;  his  syntax  is  somewhat  archaic, 
his  language  rich  and  coloured  by  poetical  feeling.  The 
following  passage  will  give  a  good  idea,  not  only  of  his  style, 
but  of  the  nature  of  his  book,  and  of  the  character  of  the  man 
who,  in  the  words  of  Arthur  Young,  was  '  the  great  parent  of 
French  agriculture ' : 

A  corriger  la  solitude  de  la  campaigne  est  de  grande  efncace  la  lecture 
des  bons  livres,  vous  tenant  tous-jours  compagnie.  Scipion  l'Africain  en 
rend  tesmoignage,  disant  a  ses  amis  (qui  s'esbahissoient  de  sa  vie  privee 
et  retiree)  liestre  jamais  moi?is  sail,  que  quand  il  estoit  sail.  Si  que  le 
Gentil-homme  aimant  les  livres,  ne  pourra  estre  que  bien  a  son  aise,  avec 
un  livre  au  poing  se  promenant  par  ses  jardins,  ses  prairies,  ses  bois, 
tenant  l'ceil  sur  ses  gens  et  affaires.  En  mauvais  temps  de  froidureset  de 
pluies,  estans  dans  la  maison,  se  promenera  sous  la  guide  de  ses  livres, 
par  la  terre,  par  la  mer,  par  les  Royaumes  et  provinces  plus  loingtaines, 
aiant  les  cartes  devant  ses  yeux,  lui  monstrant  a  l'ceil  leurs  situations. 
Dans  l'histoire,  contemplera  les  choses  passees,  les  guerres,  les  batailles, 
la  vie  et  les  mceurs  des  Rois  et  Princes,  pour  imiter  les  bons  et  fuir  les 
mauvais.  Remarquera  les  gouvernemens  des  peuples,  leurs  loix,  leurs 
polices,  leurs  coustumes,  tant  pour  entendre  comme  le  monde  segouverne, 
que  pour  faire  profit  des  salutaires  avis  qu'il  en  pourra  tirer,  les  appropriant 
a  ses  usages.  Des  bons  livres,  il  apprendra  a  sagement  conduire  sa 
famille,  a  se  comporter  avec  ses  voisins  :  sur  tout  a  craindre  et  servir 
Dieu,  a  bien  vivre,  a  fuir  le  vice,  suivre  la  vertu,  qui  est  le  chemin  du  ciel. 
nostre  seure  demeure. 

Moiennant  ces  belles  et  nobles  qualites,  nostre  vertueux  pere  de 
famille  se  maintiendra  gaiement  en  son  mesnage,  y  vivra  accomodement, 
fera  bonne  chere  a  ses  amis.  Et  despartant  a  propos  ses  heures,  pourvoira 
a  ses  affaires,  si  bien  que  mariant  le  profit  avec  le  plaisir,  chose  aucune 
n'en  demeurera  en  arriere,  ains,  comme  en  se  jouant,  toutes  s'avanceront 
a  son  contentement  et  honneur,  Dieu  benissant  son  labeur  et  industrie1. 

1  CEuvres,  1605,  pp.  9S9  f. 


XXVII]  THE   YEARS   OF   TRANSITION  289 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


Editions. 


Jean  Bertaut,  Recueil  des  ceuvres  poetiques,  1601.  Recueil  de 
quelques  vers  amoureux,  1602  (Picot,  1,  no.  820).  Les  ceuvres  poetiques, 
1620  ;  ed.  A.  Cheneviere,  1891  {Bibl.  elze'v.  ;  with  an  introduction  and 
good  bibliography). 

Jacques  Davy  du  Perron,  CEuvres  diverses.  1622. 

PIERRE  Charron,  Les  trois  veritez,  Bordeaux,  1593  ('published  with- 
out his  name)  ;  seconde  edition,  reueiie,  corrigee,  et  de  beaucoup  augment  t'e, 
Bordeaux,  1595.  De  la  Sagesse,  livres  trois,  ib.  1601  ;  seconde  edition 
reueiie  et  augmentee,  Paris,  1604;  derniere  edition,  ib.  1607  ;  ed.  Amaury- 
Duval,  3  vols.  1820-24.  There  is  an  English  translation  of  Z>< 
by  Samson  Lennard  [1612],  and  another  by  George  Stanhope  (Dean  of 
Canterbury),  3  vols.   1697. 

GUILLAUME  DU  Vair.  The  first  editions  of  Du  Yair's  separate 
treatises  have  all  disappeared,  but  it  may  be  inferred  that  La  saincte 
philosophie  was  published  before  1589,  Le  Manuel  d'Epiclcte  soon 
wards,  La  philosophic  7norale  des  Stoiques  a  few  years  later,  Le  Traicte" 
de  la  Constance  et  consolation  es  calamitez  publiques  in  1594  (first  known 
edition  1595),  and  I^e  Traicte  de  V  Eloquence  francoise  in  1594  is  earlier 
(first  known  edition  1595).  In  1606  L'Angelier  published  at  Paris  under 
the  general  title  of  Recueil  des  harangues  et  traictez  de  S*  du  Voir  the 
following  five  volumes  ;  viz.  1  Actions  et  traictez  Oratoires,  2  Arrestspro- 
noncez  en  robbe  rouge,  3  De  P  Eloquence  francoise,  4  Traictez  Philosophies, 
5  Traictez  de  piete  et  sainctes  meditations  (I  have  copies  of  1  and  2). 
These  were  re-issued  in  1607  (copies  of  2  to  5  in  the  Brit.  Mus.). 
are  several  later  and  more  complete  editions,  viz.  Rouen,  t6l2,  [622; 
Cologne,  161 7 ;  Paris,  1619,  8vo.  1621,  fo.  1625  (Brit.  Mus.),  and  I". 
1641.  The  two  latter  are  the  most  complete,  but  the  la; 
that  of  1641  is  somewhat  rejuvenated.  See  Rene  Radouant  in  A'  V. 
d'hist.  lilt.,  1899,  pp.  72  ff.,  253  ff.,  408  ff.  ;  1900,  pp.  603  ff.  There  is  an 
English  translation  o{  La  philosophic  morale  des  Stoiques  by  Thos.  James, 
first  Bodley's  Librarian,  1598,  and  another  by  Chas.  Cotton,  [I 

Pierre  J EAwmN,  Negotiations,  1656  ;  Coll.  Petitot,  2"",senr.  \i    xvi. 
Arnaud  d'Ossat  (Cardinal),  Lettres,fo.  1624;  ed.  Amelot  de  la  Hou 
2  vols.  4*°  1697-8. 

Olivier   de   Serres,  Le    Theatre  aV Agriculture   et  M 
Champs,    1600;    2    vols.   4'°    1804-5    (with    an   doge   by    Franco 
Neufchateau  at  whose  instigation  it  was  publish) 

There  are  good  portraits  of  Du  Perron,  Du  Vair,  Jeannin,  and  D  I 
in  Ch.  Perrault's  Les  homines  illustres,  2  vols.  [796,  1800. 

T.  II.  19 


2Q0  THE   YEARS   OF   TRANSITION  [CH.  XXVII 


TO    BE   CONSULTED. 

A.  Poirson,  Histoire  du  regne  de  Henri  IV,  IV.  F.  Robiou,  Essai  sur 
Vhistoire  de  la  litterature  et  des  mceurs  pendant  la  premiere  moitie  du 
xvii?  siecle,  1858.  T.  Demogeot,  Tableau  de  la  litterature  francaise  au 
xviie  siecle  avant  Corneille  et  Descartes,  1859.  G-  Lanson,  Histoire  de  la 
litterature  francaise,  5th  ed.,  pp.  333—346,  1898. 

G.  Allais,  Malherbe  et  la  poe'sie  francaise  a  la  fin  du  xvi"  siecle  (1585— 
1600),  1891  (deals  at  length  with  Bertaut  and  Du  Perron).  E.  Faguet, 
Rev.  des  cours  et  conf,  1894  (Bertaut)..  Georges  Grente  (L'abbe-),  fean 
Bertaut,  1903.  F.  Vianey,  in  Rev.  d'hist.  litt.,  XI.  156  ff.,  1904  (a  review 
of  the  preceding  work).  P.  Feret  (L'abbe),  Le  Cardinal  Du  Perron, 
1877  ;  2nd  ed.  1879. 

A.  Desjardins,  Les  moral istes  francais  du  seiziime  siecle,  1870  (Du 
Vair  and  Charron).  La  Rochemaillet,  Eloge  de  Charron,  prefaced  to  the 
1607  ed.  of  La  Sagesse  and  most  subsequent  editions.  Bayle,  Diction- 
naire  historique  et  critique.  Sainte-Beuve,  Catiseries  du  Lundi,  XL 
1854-5.  A.  Vinet,  Moralistes  des  seizieme  et  dix-scpticme  siecles,  1859. 
John  Owen,  Skeptics  of  the  French  Renaissance.  1893.  P.  Stapfer, 
La  famille  et  les  amis  de  Montaigne,  1896.  P.  Bonnefon,  Montaigne 
et  ses  amis,  II.   1897. 

Niceron,  xill.  (DuVair).  E.  Cougny,  Guillaume  du  Vair,  1857.  C.  A. 
Sapey,  Etudes  biographiques  pour  servir  a  Vhistoire  de  Vancienne 
magistrature  francaise  (G.  du  Vair),  1858  (developed  from  an  essay 
on  Du  Vair  published  in  1847).  F.  Brunot,  La  doctrine  de  Malherbe, 
1 89 1,  pp.   59-72. 

T.  Froment,  Essai  sur  Vhistoire  de  Veloquence  judiciair'e  en  France 
avant  le  dixseptihne  siecle,  1874.  C.  Aubertin,  L eloquence  politique  et 
parlcmentaire  en  France  avant  1789,  pp.  135 — 153,  1882.  A.  Chabrier, 
Les  orateurs politiques  de  la  France,  1S88  (gives  extracts  from  speeches). 
P.  Jacquinet,  Les  Predicateurs  du  xviie  siecle  avant  Bossuet,  1863. 
A.   Lezat  (l'Abb<£),  De  la  predication  sous  Henri  IV,   1871. 

C.-A.  Sainte-Beuve, Causeries  du  Lundi,  x.  (Le  President  Jeannin),  1854. 
A.  Degert  (L'abbe),  Le  Cardinal  d'Ossat,  1894.  E.  Melchior  de  Vogue, 
Histoire  et  poe'sie  (Card.  d'Ossat),  1898. 

H.  Vaschalde,  Olivier  de  Serres,  sa  vie  et  ses  travaux,  1886.  H. 
Baudrillart  in  Rev.  des  deux  mondes  for  Oct.   15,   1900. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII 

REGNIER 

There  remains  MathurinRegnier,  who,  though  he  published 
nothing  until  after  the  close  of  the  limits  assigned  to  this 
history,  belongs,  like  D'Aubigne,  emphatically  to  the  six- 
teenth century.  M.  Vianey,  indeed,  speaks  of  him  as  "  the 
most  important  of  our  poets  of  transition  "  ;  but  in  all  those 
characteristics  which  depend  on  training  and  influence  rather 
than  on  individual  temperament  Regnier  belongs  not  so  much 
to  the  transitional  period  as  to  the  Renaissance  itself1.  It 
was  not  merely  because  he  happened  to  be  Desportes's 
nephew  that  he  opposed  the  reforms  of  Malherbe,  it  was 
because  his  poetical  education,  his  many  visits  to  Italy,  his 
natural  dislike  of  all  change, 

En  toute  opinion  je  fuy  la  nouveauu', 
made  him  a  thorough-going  disciple  of  the  Pleiad.  Like 
his  masters,  he  pillages  the  Italians,  like  them  he  is  indifferenl 
to  the  virtues  of  order  and  artistic  construction,  like  them  he 
is  without  the  faculty  of  self-criticism,  like  them  he  writes  in  a 
language  which  is  habitually  metaphorical  and  picturesque, 
and  like  them  he  is  firmly  convinced  that  poetry  is  an  affair 
not  of  the  reason  but  of  the  imagination.  It  is  true  that  In- 
is  a  popular  instead  of  a  courtly  poet,  and  that  he  has 
for  realistic  description  shared  by  no  other  follower  ol  tin- 
Pleiad,  except  possibly  Remy  Pelican;  bul  the  e  A\r  tin- 
fruits  of  his  individual  genius,  and  they  have  no  connexion 

1  While  differing  from  M.  Vianey  on  this  point,  I   must  acknow 
debt  to  his  book. 


292 


REGNIER  [CH. 


with  the  prosaic  and  positive  view  of  life  upon  which  Malherbe 
prided  himself1. 

Little  is  known  of  Regnier's  life,  and  that  little  is  not 
greatly  to  his  credit.  Born  at  Chartres  in  1573  he  was 
younger  by  seventeen  years  than  the  youngest  of  the  writers 
noticed  in  the  last  chapter.  His  father,  Jacques  Regnier,  was 
an  alderman  of  his  native  town-',  and  his  mother,  Simone 
Desportes,  was  a  sister  of  the  poet.  At  the  age  of  nine  he 
received  the  tonsure,  and  when  he  was  quite  young — the 
date  is  uncertain3 — he  was  attached  to  the  suite  of  the 
Cardinal  de  Joyeuse,  who  had  succeeded  the  Cardinal  of 
Ferrara  as  Protector  of  France  at  the  Court  of  Rome,  and 
whose  restless  activity  and  strict  life  were  far  from  acceptable  to 
his  indolent  and  pleasure-loving  follower.  Regnier  accompanied 
him  to  Rome  and  led  a  more  or  less  wandering  life  in  his 
service,  of  which  a  considerable  period  was  spent  in  Italy.  He 
also  passed  some  time  at  Toulouse,  of  which  see  Joyeuse  was 
archbishop.  But  in  the  year  1605  he  returned  from  his  last 
journey  to  Italy4  and  definitely  settled  in  Paris,  where  with 
many  other  men  of  letters  he  enjoyed  the  patronage  and 
hospitality  of  his  uncle,  Desportes.  He  looked  forward  to 
succeeding  him  in  one  of  his  four  fat  abbeys,  but  in  this  he 
was  disappointed,  for  on  his  death  in  1606  they  were  given, 
with  one  exception,  to  the  King's  son  by  Henriette 
d'Entragues,  then  in  his  sixth  year.  The  poet's  sole  recom- 
pense for  his  tonsure  and  his  long  servitude  was  a  pension  of 
2000  livres  and  a  canonry  at  Chartres,  which  was  conferred  on 
him  in  1609.  He  died  at  Rouen  in  October,  161 3,  two  months 
before  his  fortieth  birthday. 

1  Petit  de  Julleville's  view  of  the  relations  of  Regnier  and  Malherbe  seems  to 
me  far  juster  than  that  of  M.  Vianey.  Comp.  Petit  de  J.  IV.  p.  32  with  Vianey, 
pp.  169  ff.  Between  the  realism  of  a  grammarian  and  the  realism  of  an  observer 
of  life  there  is  all  the  difference  in  the  world. 

2  The  fact  that  he  built  a  tennis-court  {tripot)  in  his  garden  led  to  the  story 
that  he  was  a  tripotier  or  keeper  of  a  public  tennis-court.  A  good  deal  of  scandal 
soon  accumulated  round  the  poet's  name. 

3  See  the  note  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 

4  Joyeuse  returned  from  Rome  in  May,  1605,  and  Regnier  doubtless  accompanied 
him.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  he  was  ever  secretary  to  Sully's  brother, 
M.  de  Bethune,  to  whom  Satire  vi  is  dedicated. 


XXVIII]  REGNIER  2g3 

It  is  by  his  Satires  that  Regnier  lives.  His  other  poetry 
is  small  in  amount  and  comparatively  unimportant.  Vet  the 
first  half  of  the  Stanzas,  beginning  Quand  sur  moy  je  jettt  Us 
yeux\  though  visibly  inspired  by  Desportes,  an  Ode,  Jamais 
ne  pourray-je  bannir,  and  a  Plaintc-,  with  its  original  and 
elaborate  arrangement  of  metre,  suggest  that  had  he  fallen  on 
days  more  favourable  to  lyric  poetry,  he  might  have  written 
lyrics  distinguished  by  strength  and  sincerity  of  emotion, 
and  by  a  note  of  plaintive  melancholy.  But  it  is  Regnier 
the  satirist,  the  creator  of  French  satire,  who  demands  our 
attention. 

In  French  mediaeval  literature  there  is  plenty  of  satirical 
writing,  but  no  formal  satire,  nothing  which  calls  itself  by 
that  name.  In  Marot's  hands,  as  we  have  seen,  it  took  the 
curious  unliterary,  almost  doggerel,  form  of  the  du  coqal'asne, 
which  Sibilet  regarded  as  pure  French  satire,  and  which  1  hi 
Bellay  treated  with  not  unmerited  contempt.  If  poets  must  be 
satirical,  says  Du  Bellay,  let  them  take  the  Satires  of  Horace 
for  their  model.  Yet  he  himself,  as  so  often  happened  to  him, 
did  not  practise  what  he  preached.  His  first  models  in  satire 
were  the  Italians.  Now  Italian  satire  of  the  time  of  the 
Renaissance  took  two  forms,  one  of  which,  being  of  purely 
classical  origin,  arrogated  to  itself  the  name  of  Satire,  while 
the  other  was  generally  called  Burlesque.  Both  alike  were 
written  in  terza  riina,b\xt  for  Burlesque  the  sonnet  form,  either 
with  or  without  a  coda,  was  also  employed.  The  creator  of 
the  Satire  proper  is  said  to  have  been  Vincigucrra,  but  by  far 
its  greatest  exponent  was  Ariosto3.  After  him,  at  a  con- 
siderable distance,  come  Alamanni,  Bentivoglio,  Nelli,  and 
Francesco  Sansovino.  The  last,  a  son  of  the  great  Venetian 
architect,  published  in  1560  the  collected  satires  of  all  these 
writers,  as   well  as   of  some  others,   which   proved    ol    greal 

1  CEnvres,  ed.  Courbet,  p.  2ii,  first  printed  in   the  Elzevir   edition  ol 
Cf.  Desportes,  CEuvres,  p.  493. 

2  (Euvres,  p.  173  and  p.  167,  both  first  printed  in  1611  in  a  volume  entitled 
Temple  ePApollon,  and  first  assigned  to  Regnier  in  the  Elzevir  edition  ol 

3  Vinciguerra's  satires    were    first    published    in    15:7,    Alamanni'l    in 
Ariosto's  in  1534.     Alamanni's  satires  are  chiefly  political  and  shew  the  influi 
of  Dante  and  Juvenal. 


294 


REGNIER  [CH. 


service  to  French  imitators.  Ariosto's  model  was  Horace, 
but  Horace  as  represented  by  a  single  satire,  the  sixth  of  the 
First  book,  the  only  one  which  is  at  once  an  epistle  in  form 
and  autobiographical  in  character1.  In  fact  Ariosto's  satires, 
as  well  in  spirit  as  in  form,  are  familiar  epistles  rather  than 
true  satires.  In  the  first  place  they  lack  the  dramatic  form 
which  Horace,  mindful  of  the  origin  of  Roman  satire,  has 
given  to  the  whole  of  his  Second  book,  except  the  opening  of 
the  Sixth  satire,  and  has  largely  introduced  even  in  his  First 
book2.  Secondly  Ariosto's  satirical  intention,  which,  like 
Horace's  in  his  Second  book,  never  exceeds  the  measure  of 
good-natured  irony,  is  always  subservient  to  his  charming 
faculty  of  self-revelation.  As  De  Sanctis  says,  his  aim  is 
neither  ridicule  nor  censure,  but  the  relief  of  his  own  mind. 

On  the  other  hand  Burlesque  gives  us  that  side  of  Horace's 
work  which  is  represented  by  the  Dinner  of  Xasidienus 
(II.  8)  and  the  Journey  to  Brundisium  (I.  5).  Not  that 
Burlesque  is  classical  in  its  origin,  for  it  is  derived  partly  from 
the  popular  sonnets  of  the  Florentine  barber,  Burchiello,  and 
partly  from  Lorenzo  de'  Medici's  Simposio  or  Beoui,  a  parody 
of  the  Divina  Commedia,  written  in  terza  timet  and  divided 
into  capitoli.  It  is  from  this  latter  fact  that  the  name  of 
capitolo  was  specially  given  to  a  burlesque  poem.  The  past 
master  of  this  kind  of  poetry  was  Berni,  and  Bernesque  was 
used  as  an  equivalent  to  Burlesqued  Next  to  him  ranks 
Mauro,  and  there  were   many  others,   chiefly  men   who   had 

1  Mr  Mackail's  remark  in  his  Latin  Literature  that  "the  Satires  are  full  from 
end  to  end  of  himself  and  his  own  affairs  "  is  an  exaggeration. 

2  In  the  mss.  of  Horace  the  satires  and  epistles  are  alike  entitled  scrmones, 
but  he  uses  the  word  satura  in  two  places.  Sermo  merely  denotes  a  familiar 
style,  more  akin  to  prose  than  to  poetry.  The  oldest  meaning  of  satura,  so  far 
as  the  evidence  goes,  is  that  of  a  medley  of  metres,  or  of  prose  and  verse.  But 
Nettleship  conjectured  that  its  original  meaning,  before  it  was  applied  to  a  literary 
composition,  was  "a  dramatic  performance  or  story  which  was  a  medley  of  scenes 
or  incidents"  (H.  Nettleship,  The  original  form  of  Roman  satura,  1878).  The 
earliest  literary  form  which  satura  took  is  probably  best  represented  by  the  work 
of  Petronius. 

'■'  II  Lasca  published  in  1548  a  collected  edition  of  opere  burlesche  of  Berni 
and  others.  Both  forms  of  Italian  satire  are  included  in  vol.  XXVII.  of  Parnaso 
Italiano,  Venice,    1787. 


XXVIII]  REGNIER  2g$ 

distinguished  themselves  in  other  branches  of  literature,  such 
as  the  novelists  Firenzuola  and  II  Lasca,  Annibale  Caro,  the 
translator  of  the  JEneid,  and  Delia  Casa,  the  letter-writer. 

As  we  have  seen,  it  was  Ariosto  and  Berni  who  inspired 
Joachim  du  Bellay  with  the  idea  of  his  Regrets,  Ariosto 
suggesting  the  autobiographical  character  and  Berni  the  use 
of  the  sonnet-form.  Then  in  1559,  the  year  after  the  publica- 
tion of  the  Regrets,  he  produced  in  Le  poete  courtisan  a  poem 
which  may  fairly  claim  to  be  the  first  French  satire.  But  in 
its  elaborate  irony,  its  studied  art  of  saying  one  thing  and 
meaning  another,  it  still  reminds  one,  not  of  Horace,  but  of  a 
capitolo1.  We  have  seen  that  Ronsard's  Discours  des  mi  seres 
de  ce  temps  contain  some  satirical  passages,  and  a  certain 
amount  of  autobiography.  This  latter  characteristic  is  made 
the  special  feature  of  another  discours,  Contrc  fortune,  and  of 
two  poems  addressed  to  Pierre  Lescot  and  to  Catharine  de' 
Medici2.  But  they  are  epistles  and  not  satires,  and  so  Ronsard 
regarded  them.  In  a  poem  which  he  addressed  to  Henry  III 
soon  after  his  accession  to  the  throne,  he  announces  his 
intention  of  writing  satires  after  the  manner  of  Horace,  and 
the  poem  itself  would  have  served  admirably  as  an  intro- 
ductory satire3.  M.  Vianey,  however,  is  doubtless  right  in 
pointing  out  that  it  was  Ronsard's  example  which  definitely 
determined  the  form  of  French  satire,  that  of  a  familiar  epistle 
written  in  the  alexandrine  metre. 

Shortly   before    Ronsard  wrote   the   poem    addressed    to 


1  M.  Chamard,  p.  429,  points  out  that  the  immediate  source  >>f  the  inspiration 
is  a  Latin  letter  by  Turnebe,  a  translation  of  which,  evidently  by  I  »u  Bell 
published  with  his  Le  poete  courtisan  under  the  title  of  h 

son  profit  des  letlres.     He  further  points  out  that  a  sort  of  imitation  of  Du  I 
satire  appeared  in  the  same  year  under  the  title  of  Le  Medecin  Court:  an.     It  i^ 
printed  in  the  Kecueil  de  poesies  francoiscs,  X.  </>  ff. 

2  (Euvres,   vi.    156  ff.,    18S  ff . ;    in.    369.     The    two   formei    poem 
published   in    r.160;   the  third   was  written   in    1560  or    [561. 

3  sans  vostre  faveur,    --ire, 
Je  n'ose  envenimer  ma  langue  ;i  la  Batyre. 

je  seray  satyrique, 
Disoy-je  a  vostre  frere,  a  Charles  mon  seigneur. 


296  REGNIER  [CH. 

Henry  III  Jean  de  la  Taille  published  in  the  same  volume 
with  his  play  the  Gabeonites  (1573)  a  poem  entitled  Le 
courtisan  retire,  which  has  a  long  satirical  passage  on  the 
court,  and  which  is  noteworthy  as  being  in  form  not  an  epistle 
but  a  narrative  with  a  slight  element  of  dialogue1.  The 
satire  however  is  of  no  great  force,  and  the  best  part  of  the 
poem  is  the  elegiac  passage  in  which  the  old  courtier  paints 
the  charms  of  country  life.  La  Taille  also  wrote  some  satirical 
sonnets2.  There  was  also,  as  we  have  seen,  a  satirical  vein  in 
Passerat,  Rapin,  and  Durant,  which  bore  fruit  in  the  verses  of 
the  Satire  Menippee,  but  none  of  them  wrote  regular  satires3. 
The  first  French  satires,  definitely  so-called,  were  those  of 
Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye  published  in  1605  in  his  volume  of 
Diverses poesies.  They  are  thirty-four  in  number,  divided  into 
five  books,  but  of  this  respectable  total  M.  Vianey  has  shewn 
that  twenty-one  are  direct  translations  of  Horace  and  the 
Italian  satirists,  while  the  rest  are  mosaics  put  together  from 
the  same  sources.  Vauquelin  evidently  used  Sansovino's 
collection,  even  borrowing  his  preface.  In  this  preface  it  is 
worth  noting  that  the  distinction  in  form  between  the  satire 
and  the  epistle  to  which  Horace  has  rigidly  adhered  in  all  his 
satires  except  two4  is  completely  missed5,  a  mistake  which  is 
natural  enough  in  Sansovino,  whose  model  was  Ariosto. 

Thus  when  Regnier  began  to  write  satires  there  was  little 
or  nothing  in  his  native  language  to  serve  as  a  direct  model. 
His  earliest  satire,  the  Second,  shews  him  at  the  outset  wavering 
between  Juvenal  and  Horace. 

Mais  c'est  trop  sermone  de  vice,  et  de  vertu : 
II  faut  suiure  un  sentier  qui  soit  moins  rebatu, 
Et  conduit  d'Apollon  recognoistie  la  trace 
Du  libre  Juvenal,  trop  discret  est  Horace 

1  Ed.   R.   de   Maulde,    m.    xxii.  ff. 

2  Sonnets  Satyriques  dit  camp  de  Poitoii,  1568,  ib.  III.  ff. 

3  There  is  a  historical  sketch  of  French  satire  prefixed  to  Viollet  le  Due's 
edition  of  Regnier,  but  it  does  not  give  much  information. 

4  The  first  and  sixth  satires  of  the  First  book. 

5  //  riy  a  pas  grande  difference  entre  les  Epistres  et  les  Sat y res  a"  Horace,  fors 
que  volontiers  il  escrit  les  Epistres  a  gens  absents  et  d  personnes  elonguces.  Les  diverses 
poesies,  ed.  Travers,  p.  131. 


XXVIII]  REGNIER  297 

Pour  un  homme  pique,  joint  que  la  passion 
Comme  sans  jugement,  est  sans  discretion  : 
Cependant  il  vaut  mieux  sucrer  nostre  moutarde  : 
L'homme  pour  un  caprice  est  sot  qui  se  hazarde1. 

But  in  fact  this  is  the  only  one  of  Regnier's  satires  which 
shews  any  traces  of  that  tone  of  personal  irritation  and 
disappointment  which  is  so  marked  in  Juvenal.  Regnier 
soon  came  round  to  the  more  genial  and  tolerant  mood  of 
Horace.  A  few  lines  further  on  we  come  upon  a  translation 
of  Ariosto  : 

Et  que,  la  grace  a  Dieu  Phoebus  et  son  troupeau, 
Nous  n'eusmes  sur  le  dos  jamais  vn  bon  manteau2, 

and  the  autobiographical  character  points  to  the  same  influence. 
Lastly  the  eloquent  appeal  to  Ronsard, 

et  vous  autres  esprits 
Oue  pour  estre  viuans  en  mes  vers  ie  n'escris, 

(referring  especially  to  Desportes)  marks  Regnier  as  a  loyal 
follower  of  the  Pleiad,  while  the  famous  line 

Meditant  vn  sonnet,  medite  vne  Evesche 

is    surely    a    reminiscence    of    Du     Bellay's    Poete   courtisan 
and  his 

Car  vn  petit  sonnet  qui  n'a  rien  que  le  son,  ecc. 

Generally  this  first  attempt  of  Regnier's  shews  a  prentice 
hand.  It  is  ill-composed  and  disconnected,  and  its  chief 
merit  lies  in  the  concentrated  energy  of  some  of  the  lines, 
as  for  instance  the  following  description  of  vice  : 

Le  vice  qui  pompeux  tout  merite  repousse, 

Et  va  comme  vn  banquier  en  carrosse  et  en  housse. 

The  Third  satire,  which  probably  comes  next  in  date  of 
composition,   is   much   better'5.     It   still   shews    the   same    in- 

1  Ed.  Courbet,  p.  14.  This  satire  was  written  ten  years  (ib.  p.  16)  after 
Regnier  entered  the  service  of  Joyeuse,  and  therefore  according  to  my  view  in 
1601. 

2  Apollo  tua  merce,   tua  merce,   saute > 
Collegio  delle  Muse,  io  non  possedo 

Tanto  per  voi,  ch'  io  possa  farmi  un   manto.     Sat.   II. 

3  M.  Vianey  assigns  it  conjecturally  to  the  autumn  of  1598;  I  slum]. I  put 
it  in  the  late  summer  of  1603. 


298  REGNIER  [CH. 

fluences  ;  it  is  modelled  to  some  extent  on  the  first  part  of 
Juvenal's  Third  satire,  it  has  a  passage  of  eight  lines 
translated  from  Ariosto1,  and  it  has  in  the  manner  of  Ariosto 
a  version  of  a  well-known  fable. 

We  now  come  to  two  satires,  the  Fourth  and  the  Sixth, 
both  apparently  written  between  1603  and  1605 2,  in  which 
a  new  influence  appears,  that  of  Italian  Burlesque.  In  the 
Fourth,  a  palpable  reminiscence  of  Ronsard's  epistle  to  Pierre 
Lescot  is  followed  by  an  arrangement  of  various  passages 
from  a  capitolo  of  Dolce.  The  Sixth  is  little  more  than 
a  translation  of  two  capitoli  of  Mauro,  In  disJwnore  delf  honor, 
which  had  already  been  translated  in  part  by  Amadis  Jamyn3. 
Neither  satire  however  has  much  merit. 

Regnier,  as  we  have  seen,  probably  returned  to  France 
from  his  last  journey  to  Italy  in  May,  1605,  and  for  the  rest 
of  his  life  lived  chiefly  if  not  entirely  at  Paris.  The  Fifth 
satire  which  is  addressed  to  the  poet  Bertaut,  apparently 
before  he  was  made  Bishop  of  Seez  (1606),  has  been  acutely 
and  convincingly  assigned  by  M.  Vianey  to  the  latter  half  of 
1605 4.  Except  the  Thirteenth,  which  is  quite  different  in 
character,  it  is  the  finest  of  all  the  satires,  the  one  in  which 
Regnier  is  most  successful  in  catching  the  true  spirit  and 
tone  of  Horace,  that  is  to  say  in  making  himself  the  text  for  a 
commentary  on  human  nature. 

For  this  indeed  he  had  a  model  nearer  home,  and  much  of 
the  satire  is  in  fact  strongly  reminiscent  of  Montaigne.  Thus 
the  first  forty-six  lines  which  are  summed  up  in  the  single 
line : 

Et  le  bien  et  le  mal  despend  du  goust  des  homines 
recall  the  Apology  for  Raimond  Sebond,  while  the  striking 

1  Compare  the  passage  beginning  Que  me  serf  de  irfasseoir  le  premier  a  la 
table  (ed.  Courbet,  p.  27)  with  Ariosto,  II.  Che giova  a  me  sedere,  &rc. 

2  The  reference  to  the  publisher  Mamert  Patisson  shews,  says  M.  Vianey, 
that  the  Fourth  cannot  be  much  later  than  1604.  He  goes  on  to  identify  Dame 
Fredegonde  with  Marguerite  de  Valois  and  to  date  the  satire  by  her  return  to 
Paris  in  August,  1605,  but  this  seems  very  doubtful.  The  Sixth,  addressed  to 
M.  Bethune,  Sully's  brother,  was  written  at  Rome,  and  therefore  either  between 
August,  1603,  and  May,  1604,  or  between  November,  1604,  and  May,  1605. 

3  Vianey,  pp.  119— 123;  Jamyn,  CEuvres poitiques,  ed.  Ch.  Brunet,  ii.  203  ff. 

4  Vianey,  p.   19. 


XXVIII]  REGNIER 


299 


passage  on  the  different  ages  of  man  shews  a  close  study 
of  the  great  Essay  on  Repentance.  But  though  Regnier 
owes  much  in  this  satire  to  Horace  and  Montaigne,  it  is  no 
paradox  to  say  that  in  no  satire  is  he  more  himself.  For  his 
debt  is  to  his  own  spiritual  ancestors.  Montaigne  has  been 
called  the  French  Horace,  and  Regnier  the  Montaigne  of 
French  poetry1.     The  three  men  are  of  one  spiritual  kin. 

The  Seventh  satire  has  nothing  in  it  to  determine  its  date, 
but  from  its  general  character  I  should  assign  it  to  the  same 
period  as  the  Fifth.  It  is  the  most  personal  of  all,  being  an 
apology  for  the  author's  readiness  to  fall  in  love.  The  Eighth 
and  Ninth  satires  must  both  have  been  written  before 
Desportes's  death  in  October,  1606,  and  probably  both  belong 
to  that  year.  The  Ninth  contains  the  celebrated  answer  to 
Malherbe's  attack  on  the  Pleiad2,  and  the  Eighth  is  an 
imitation  of  Horace's  Ibatn  forte  via  sacra':  These  eight 
satires  together  with  the  First,  a  dedicatory  epistle  to  the 
King,  and  the  Twelfth,  an  apology  for  satire  suggested  by 
the  Fourth  satire  of  Horace's  First  book,  were  published  in 
1608. 

The  second  edition,  which  appeared  in  1609,  contained  two 
new  satires,  the  Tenth  and  its  continuation  the  Eleventh. 
They  are  very  different  in  character  to  any  of  the  preceding 
ones.  In  the  first  place  they  are  much  longer,  in  the  second 
they  are  not  epistles  but  narratives  of  personal  adventure,  like 
the  Journey  to  Brundisium  and  the  Supper  of  Xasidienus.  But 
the  immediate  model  is  not  Horace,  but  Berni,  in  whose 
capitolo  addressed  to  Fracastoro  will  be  found  the  outline 
as  well  as  many  episodes  of  the  story.  Besides  this  part 
of  the  long  and  famous  description  of  the  pedant  is  taken 
almost  word  for  word  from  a  capitolo  of  Cesare  Caporali4,  who 
had  revived  the  art  of  Bernesque  satire  in  the  second  half  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  and  who,  since  he  lived  till  the  year  1601, 

1  By  Sainte-Beuve,  who  belongs  to  the  same  spiritual  family. 
-  Malherbe  arrived  in  Paris  in  August,  [605. 

3  It  contains   a   reference  to    the  approaching  completion    of   the  Pont-Neuj 
(Vianey,  p.   28). 

4  Rime piacevoli,  2  vols.  Florence,  1820,  II.  171  ff.     See  Vianey,  pp.   124  (L 


300  REGNIER  [CH. 

may  have  been  personally  known  to  Regnier.  Thus  for  the 
first  time  we  find  in  Regnier's  work  a  specimen  of  that 
elaborately  descriptive  vein  which  is  one  of  the  marked 
features  of  Berni's  satires.  If  in  some  parts,  especially  where 
he  is  influenced  by  Caporali's  heavier  touch,  he  keeps  up  the 
character  of  comic  exaggeration  which  is  inherent  in  Bernesque, 
he  shews  elsewhere  a  realistic  fidelity,  which  Balzac  might 
have  envied. 

The  third  edition  of  the  Satires,  published  in  1612  and  the 
last  which  appeared  in  Regnier's  lifetime  contained  only  one 
new  satire,  the  most  famous  of  all,  Macette.  Though  like  the 
two  which  preceded  it,  it  is  a  narrative  in  form  and  not  an 
epistle,  it  is  in  other  respects  a  complete  contrast  to  them. 
Instead  of  a  story  of  adventure  it  is  a  simple  portrait  with 
only  just  enough  action  to  give  it  life.  In  the  place  of 
elaborate  descriptions  of  material  things  we  have  a  pure  study 
of  character,  in  which  nothing  external  is  noticed  except 
gestures  and   movement. 

The  sources  of  this  celebrated  portrait  have  been  ex- 
amined with  great  care,  but  with  some  tendency  to  multiply 
them  unnecessarily.  Keeping  to  what  seems  fairly  certain, 
the  idea  was  doubtless  suggested  to  Regnier  by  a  poetical 
Discours  which  appeared  in  1609  in  a  collection  entitled 
Nouveau  Recueil  des  plus  beaux  vers  de  ce  temps,  and  which 
was  written  by  a  friend  of  Regnier's  named  Charles  de 
Lespine1.  The  poem  in  question  is  based  entirely  on  an 
elegy  in  Ovid's  Amoves,  which  fifty  years  before  had  inspired 
Du  Bellay,  Jean  Doublet,  and  possibly  Ronsard.  Regnier 
evidently  knew  Doublet's  elegy  as  is  shewn  by  a  comparison 
between  the  close  of  the  two  poems.  But  in  the  hands 
of  Ovid  and  his  imitators  the  prototype  of  Macette  is  merely 
an  ordinary  lena ;  in  Regnier's  she  is  also  a  religious 
hypocrite.  Whence  did  he  derive  this  idea  ?  On  this 
point  there  is  a  considerable  divergence  of  opinion  between 
M.   Vianey   and    some    pupils    of   M.   Brunot    who    with    his 

1  It  has  been  reprinted  with  an  introduction  by  E.  Courbet  as  La  Macette  du 
sieur  de  Lespine,  1875.  M.  Vianey  has  identified  Lespine  with  a  secretary  of 
Cardinal  du  l'erron  who  was  at  Rome  in  160^. 


XXVIII]  REGNIER  301 

assistance  have  published  an  excellent  commentary  on 
Regnier's  satire1.  While  M.  Vianey  finds  the  chief  source 
of  inspiration  in  Aretino,  they  point  to  the  Roman  de  la 
Rose,  of  which  the  traces  are  undoubted,  to  the  famous 
Celestina  with  its  numerous  French  translations,  and  to 
characters  like  Francoise  in  Odet  de  Turnebe's  Les  Contents. 
I  have  already  said  that  the  influence  of  the  Celestina  on  this 
comedy  in  particular  and  on  French  comedy  in  general  seems 
to  me  doubtful2,  and  I  doubt  still  more  whether  it  influenced 
Regnier.  Celestina  is  not  a  hypocrite.  Her  character,  it 
must  be  admitted,  has  defects,  but  hypocrisy  is  not  one  of 
them.  Her  religion  is  that  of  a  true  Spaniard,  none  the  less 
genuine,  because  inconsistent  with  her  calling.  It  is  an 
inherent  part  of  her  character  and  not  merely  a  mask.  On 
the  other  hand  her  Italian  sisters  having  taken  to  religion 
in  their  declining  years  as  a  sign  of  respectability  may 
fairly  be  called  hypocrites.  I  agree  therefore  with  M.  Vianey 
that  it  was  from  Italian  rather  than  from  Spanish  or  French 
comedy  that  Regnier  took  the  idea  of  Macette,  and  possibly 
his  special  model  may  have  been  the  Alvigia  of  Aretino' s  play 
Cortigiana*. 

But  whatever  her  ancestry  Macette  is  of  her  time  and 
country.  She  does  not  practice  sorcery  like  Ovid's  Dipsas  and 
most  of  her  prototypes  in  Italian  comedy,  nor  has  religious 
hypocrisy  become  with  her,  as  with  Alvigia,  a  second  nature. 
Her  religion  is  purely  a  mask  which  she  soon  lays  aside  to 
appear  in  her  true  character.  Her  advice  is  thoroughly 
worldly  in  tone,  and  she  does  not  like  Tartuffe  suggest  that 
'evil  actions  may  be  rectified  by  pure  intentions.'  It  has 
been  said  that  religious  hypocrisy  did  not  exist  in  Regnier's 
day.  Possibly  not,  but  at  any  rate  a  religious  revival,  the 
result  of  the  Counter-reformation,  was  in  full  activity  at  Paris. 
In  1604  the  Jesuits  had  been  recalled.     In   1602  St  Francois 

1  Macette  publiee  et  commentee  par  F.  Brunot  et  P.  Bloume,  L.  Fourniols, 
G.  Peyre  et  A.  Weil,   1900. 

2  See  ante,  p.    112. 

3  Venice,  1552.  In  the  3rd  Giomata  of  the  second  part  of  the  Ragionamenti 
La  Comare  says  Hippocrasie  e  consciejitie  sono  apellammti  de  le  nostre  cattivita, 
but  the  resemblance  between  her  and  Macette  is  not  at  all  close. 


\02 


REGNIER  [CH. 


de  Sales  had  spent  some  months  there  and  had  doubtless 
made  an  impression  on  the  Parisian  ladies  by  his  skill  as 
a  director  of  conscience,  an  impression  which  was  deepened 
bv  the  publication  in  1609  of  his  Introduction  to  the  devout 
life.  But  the  devotional  works  which  were  the  most  widely 
read  in  France  at  this  time  were  the  writings  of  St  Teresa  ; 
so  that  in  reading  her  Meditations  Macette  was  only  following 
the  fashion.  Now  this  outburst  of  religious  fervour  is  spoken 
of  in  the  Journal  of  Pierre  de  l'Estoile,  an  honest  man  and 
a  sincere  Christian,  as  a  sign  of  bigotry  and  hypocrisy.  What 
then  must  it  have  seemed  to  Regnier,  who  '  shunned  all 
novelty '  and  was  a  libertine  to  boot?  In  making  his  Macette 
a  representative  of  religious  hypocrisy,  he  probably  intended 
to  increase  the  pungency  of  his  satire.  If  he  confused  true 
religion  with  hypocrisy  he  is  not  the  only  man  of  pleasure  nor 
the  only  satirist  who  has  done  so.  Macette  then  is  in  some 
respects  an  imaginary  portrait,  but  she  is  none  the  less 
magnificently  alive.  That  she  seemed  so  to  the  creator  of 
Tartuffe  we  may  feel  assured.  There  are  many  signs  that  he 
had  given  careful  study  to  her,  but  I  will  only  notice  one 
here.  Just  as  Macette's  appearance  on  the  scene  is  heralded 
by  a  description  of  her  character,  so  throughout  the  first  two 
acts  of  Moliere's  play  Tartuffe  dominates  the  interest  without 
actually  appearing  on  the  stage. 

Macette  was  the  last  satire  which  Regnier  lived  to  see 
published,  but  he  left  behind  him  three  others — or  four  if  you 
count  the  Seventeenth — of  which  two  at  least,  the  Fourteenth 
and  the  Sixteenth,  were  probably  written  before  Macette1. 
These,  with  some  other  pieces,  were  published  after  his  death, 
before  the  close  of  the  year  161 3.  They  are  mainly  ethical  in 
character,  and  apart  from  the  excellence  of  the  versification 
of  no  great  merit  as  a  whole.  But  the  opening  lines  of  the 
Fourteenth,  which  is  addressed  to  Sully,  are  admirable,  and  so 
is  the  first  half  of  the  Fifteenth. 

A  satirist  is  presumably  a  moralist,  but  this  can  hardly  be 
said  of  Regnier.     His  ethical  standard  is  that  of  Montaigne 

1  XIV.  must  have  been  written  before  Sully's  retirement  in  January,  161 1 ;  and 
xvi.  before  Fourquevaux's  death  in  March  of  that  year  (Vianey,  p.  3a). 


XXVIII]  REGNIER  303 

in  his  easiest  mood  and  he  borrows  from  him  a  few  of  his  most 
comfortable  doctrines.  But  if  he  is  no  moralist,  he  is  a 
marvellous  observer  and  painter  of  life  and  manners.  The 
Paris  of  his  day — its  streets,  its  buildings,  and  above  all,  its 
inhabitants — lives  again  in  his  verse.  For  if  in  parts  of  the 
Tenth  and  Eleventh  Satires  he  resembles  a  Dutch  painter  of 
still  life  this  is  not  his  most  characteristic  note.  His  genre- 
painting  with  its  lively  action  reminds  one  rather  of  Jan  Steen. 
But  the  painter  to  whom  he  is  most  akin  is  his  younger  con- 
temporary, Frans  Hals.  He  has  the  same  mastery  over 
physiognomy  and  gesture,  the  same  gay  audacity,  the  same 
brilliant  and  varied  palette.    Here  is  the  portrait  of  the  'bore' : 

Un  ieune  frise,  releue  de  moustache, 
De  galoche,  de  botte,  et  d'vn  ample  pennache. 

Laissons  le  discourir, 
Dire  cent,  et  cent  fois,  il  en  faudroit  mourir, 
Sa  Barbe  pingoter,  cageoller  la  science, 
Releuer  ses  cheueux,  dire  en  ma  conscience, 
Faire  la  belle  main,  mordre  vn  bout  de  ses  guents, 
Rire  hors  de  propos,  monstrer  ses  belles  dents, 
Se  carrer  sur  vn  pied,  faire  arser  son  espee, 
Et  s'adoucir  les  yeux  ainsi  qu'vne  poup^e1. 

More  elaborate  and  more  fantastic  in  its  imaginative 
audacity  is  the  portrait  of  the  pedant  in  the  Tenth  Satire,  and 
the  same  may  be  said  of  the  trois  vieilles  in  the  Eleventh,  but 
they  are  less  true  to  nature.  Besides  these  more  finished 
portraits  there  are  plenty  of  sketches  sparkling  with  life  and 
colour.     But  Regnier's  satire  is  never  personal. 

Tout  le  monde  s'y  voit  et  ne  s'y  sent   nommer- 

is  his  just  boast,  and  it  earned  him  the  name  of  le  bon  Regnier. 
His  chief  artistic  defect  is  his  inability  to  construct  a 
complete  poem.  He  was  too  indolent  to  think  out  his  subject 
beforehand,  and  he  was  content  to  borrow  the  setting  for  his 
pictures  from  Horace  or  Juvenal,  or  the  Italian  satirists.     As 

1  Sat.  viii.  M.  Vianey  points  out  the  resemblance  between  this  portrait  and 
D'Aubigne's  Faeneste.  M.  Rostand's  Cyrano  is  a  heroic  representative  of  the 
same  type. 

2  Sat.   XII. 


304  REGNIER  [CH. 

long  as  he  keeps  closely  to  the  lines  of  his  model  he  is  safe; 
Macette,  for  instance,  which  is  based  on  Ovid's  simple  frame- 
work, is  the  one  satire  which  is  well  constructed.  But  when, 
as  in  the  Eighth  satire,  he  tries  to  improve  upon  his  model, 
failure  awaits  him.  The  narrative  in  this  satire  is  as  inferior 
to  Horace's  in  clearness  and  artistic  construction  as  the 
portrait  is  superior  in  brilliance  and  actuality.  It  is  worse 
when  Regnier  trusts  entirely  to  his  own  invention.  The 
Second  satire  is  remarkable  for  incoherence,  and  the  Ninth 
satire  which  opens  so  admirably  with  the  famous  attack  on 
Malherbe,  degenerates  into  a  string  of  more  or  less  dis- 
connected passages. 

We  have  seen  that  Regnier  was  indebted  to  other  writers 
for  more  than  the  mere  framework  of  his  satires.  He  helped 
himself  with  quite  as  free  a  hand  to  their  thoughts  and  even 
to  their  language.  In  borrowing  from  the  Italians  he  was 
only  following  the  footsteps  of  his  predecessors,  especially  of 
his  uncle,  Desportes,  but  he  improved  on  their  example  by 
treating  them  in  a  similar  fashion.  The  first  part  of  his 
Fourth  satire  is  so  closely  modelled  on  the  Epistle  to  Pierre 
Lescot  that  it  echoes  Ronsard's  words  and  even  his  rhymes1. 
His  debt  to  Desportes  in  Macette  is  considerable  ;  he  appro- 
priates his  language  as  if  it  were  family  property'2.  Yet  with 
all  this  no  writer  has  a  more  thoroughly  individual  style  or 
one  which  is  less  an  imitation  of  the  writers  from  whom  he 
borrows.  The  general  style  of  the  poets  of  the  Pleiad 
school,  except  when  they  are  confined  within  the  fourteen 
lines  of  a  sonnet,  is  flowing,  redundant,  and  somewhat  nerve- 
less. The  epithet  doux-coulant,  which  was  specially  applied 
to  Du  Bellay,  is  equally  well-suited  to  most  of  Ronsard's 
disciples1'.  Regnier,  on  the  other  hand,  is  concise,  vigorous, 
pregnant.  He  attains  this  result  partly  by  an  expressive 
vocabulary,  which  if  it  is  limited  in  extent  is  exceedingly  well- 

1  Parquet — caquet ;   terre — guerre. 

2  See  for  Regnier's  debt  to  Ronsard  and  his  disciples  Vianey  pp.  95 — 105.  He 
however  exaggerates  the  debt  to  Ronsard  in  the  Ninth  satire.  M.  Vianey  also 
notes  the  influence  of  Rabelais  (p.  138),  but  one  of  the  instances  he  gives  is  from 
the  Fifth  book  and  therefore  in  a  sense  doubtful. 

3  Ronsard's  style  is  much  stronger  than  that  of  any  of  his  followers. 


XXVIII]  REGNIER  305 

chosen,  and  partly  by  a  somewhat  arbitrary  treatment  of  the 
strict  rules  of  syntax.  His  defects  are  those  of  his  qualities. 
He  is  sometimes  obscure,  even  unintelligible,  and  he  cannot 
construct  a  poetical  period  of  more  than  four  lines.  Thus  it 
is  a  fair  representation  of  his  artistic  merits  and  shortcomings 
to  say  that  he  is  more  impressive  in  isolated  passages  than  in 
a  whole  poem,  more  impressive  in  short  passages  than  in  long 
ones,  and  most  impressive  of  all  in  single  lines.  Here  is  a 
quatrain  which  rises  above  the  ordinary  familiar  style  of 
satire  : 

Peres  des  siecles  vieux,  exemple  de  la  vie, 
Dignes  d'estre  admirez  d'vne  honorable  enuie, 
(Si  quelque  beau  desir  viuoit  encor'  en  nous) 
Nous  voyant  de  la  haut  Peres  qu'en  dittes  vous?1 

And  here  is  a  longer  passage  of  considerable  eloquence  : 

Iuste  poste'rite  a  tesmoing  ie  t'apelle, 
Toy  qui  sans  passion,  maintiens  l'ceuure  immortelle, 
Et  qui  selon  l'esprit,  la  grace  et  le  sqauoir, 
De  race  en  race  au  peuple  vn  ouurage  fais  voir, 
Vange  ceste  querelle,  et  iustement  separe 
Du  Cigne  d'Apollon  la  corneille  barbare 
Qui  croassant  par  tout  d'vn  orgueil  effronte" 
Ne  couche  de  rien  moins  que  l'immortalite 2. 

Many  of  his  single  lines  are  more  or  less  borrowed  from 
various  collections  of  proverbs,  but  they  are  all  stamped  with 
the  mark  of  his  own  personality.     Such  are 

Les  fous  sont  aux  echets  les  plus  proches  des  Rois, 

and, 

Le  peche  que  Ton  cache  est  demi  pardonne. 

The  latter  is  one  of  Macette's  numerous  adages,  and  is  the 
translation  of  an  Italian  original,  Peccato  celato  c  mezzo 
perdonato1 \  But  it  is  Regnier's  rendering  of  a  Spanish  proverb 
which  best  illustrates  the  most  striking  feature  in  his  style- 
its  imaginative  quality.  Thus  the  original  Muda  se  el  pelo 
como  el  zelo,  "  Our  hair  changes  like  our  passions,"  is  repre- 

1  Sat.  v.   CEuvres,  p.  42. 

2  Sat.   11.  ib.   p.   19. 

3  In  a  collection  published  by  John  Florio,  London,  1591  (Vianey,  p.   166). 

T.  II.  20 


3o6  REGNIER  [CH. 

sented  by  the  splendid  line,  in  which  the  influence  of  Horace 
may  be  also  traced, 

Et  comme  notre  poil  blanchissent  noz  desirs1. 

I  have  already  quoted  the  line  in  which  vice  is  compared  to  a 
banker  driving  in  a  carriage  or  riding  on  a  horse.  Another 
good  instance  is  the  line  in  the  Fourth  satire  : 

Dire,  en  serrant  la  main,  Dame,  il  men  falloit  point, 

in  which  the  idea  and  the  last  half  of  the  line  are  taken  from 
the  scene  between  Panurge  and  Rondibilis-.  But  it  is  the  first 
half  which  at  once  calls  up  a  picture  of  the  doctor  closing  his 
hand  on  his  fee.  M.  Vianey  adds  to  these  some  striking 
instances  of  the  manner  in  which  Regnier  gives  imaginative 
life  to  inanimate  objects,  such  as,  of  two  bottles  : 

Qui  disoient  sans  goulet  :   Nous  avons  trop  vescu, 
and  of  Macette  : 

Son  ceil  tout  penitent  ne  pleure  qu'eau  beniste3. 

It  is  this  divine  faculty  of  imagination  which  separates 
Regnier  from  Malherbe  and  marks  him  definitely  as  belonging 
to  the  Pleiad  camp.  The  difference  between  the  two  schools 
is  admirably  stated  in  the  celebrated  Ninth  satire : 

Cependant  leur  scauoir  ne  s'estend  seulement, 
Qu'a  regrater  vn  mot  douteux  au  iugement, 
Prendre  garde  qu'vn  qui  ne  heurte  vne  diphtongue, 
Epier  si  des  vers  la  rime  est  breue  ou  longue, 
Ou  bien  si  la  voyelle  a  l'autre  s'vnissant. 
Ne  rend  point  a  Poreille  vn  vers  trop  languissant, 
Et  laissent  sur  le  verd  le  noble  de  l'ouurage  : 
Nul  eguillon  diuin  n'esleue  leur  courage, 
lis   rampent  bassement  foibles  d'inuentions, 
Et  n'osent  peu  hardis  tanter  les   fictions, 
Froids  a  l'imaginer,  car  s'ils   font  quelque   chose, 
C'est  proser  de  la  rime,  et  rimer  de  la  prose 
Que  l'art  lime  et  relime  et  polit  de  facon 
Qu'elle  rend  a  l'oreille  vn  agreable  son4. 

1  Lenit  albescens  animos  capillos,   Odes,    III.    xv.    24.     See  E.    Roy   in    Rev. 
cthist.  lift.  in.  619  and  Vianey,  p.  164. 

2  Pantagruel,  III.  33,   He,  he,  he,  monsieur  il  ne  falloit  rien.     Grand  mercy 
toutesfois.  s  Vianey,   p.   232.  *   CEuvres,   p.  68. 


XXVIII]  REGNIER  307 

Poetry  differs  from  prose  by  its  use  of  the  imaginative 
faculty — this  was  the  doctrine  of  Ronsard  and  his  disciples, 
and  in  this  they  were  right  and  Malherbe  was  utterly  wrong. 
They  were  also  right  in  holding  that  poetry  is  the  offspring 
of  genius  and  inspiration,  but  when  they  went  on  to  despise 
labour  and  polish  and  other  signs  of  careful  workmanship,  they 
were  wrong  and  Malherbe  was  right.  Had  Malherbe  con- 
descended to  give  an  articulate  expression  to  his  views  he 
would  have  said,  as  Boileau  said  later, 

Soyez-vous  a  vous-meme  un  severe  critique1. 

The  great  fault  of  the  Pleiad  school  from  Ronsard  to  Regnier 
was,  as  we  have  seen,  its  lack  of  self-criticism.  The  one  claim 
of  Malherbe — and  it  is  a  large  one — to  the  gratitude  of  his 
countrymen  is  that  he  was  the  first  French  critic. 


Note  on  the  date  of  Regnier"  s  earliest  satire. 

The  Second  satire,  which  is  almost  certainly  the  first  in 
point  of  date,  was  written  after  Regnier  had  spent  ten  years 
in  the  service  of  the  Cardinal  de  Joyeuse.  Now  Brossette  in 
his  commentary  says  that  he  entered  that  service  in  1583, 
when  he  was  twenty  years  old.  This  is  clearly  wrong,  for  he 
was  born  in  1573,  and  later  writers  have  supposed  that 
Brossette  meant  1593.  But  Brossette's  statement  is  un- 
supported by  any  evidence,  and  consequently  M.  Courbet 
conjectures  that  Regnier  really  entered  the  Cardinal's  service 
in  1587,  just  after  the  Cardinal  was  appointed  to  the  dignity 
of  Protector  of  France  at  Rome.     Regnier  himself  says  : 

C'est  done  pourquoy  si  ieune  abandonnant  la  France 
Tallay  vif  de  courage,   et  tout  chaud  d'esperance 
En  la  cour  d'vn   Prelat,  qu'auecq'  mille  dangers 
I'ay  suiuy  courtisan  aux  pais  estrangers. 

Sat.  11.  (CEin'res,  p.  16). 

1-  Uart  poi-tiqtte,  I.     The  whole  of  the  latter  part  of  this  first  chant  is  practically 
a  criticism  of  the  workmanship  of  Ronsard's  school. 


1 


308  REGNIER  [CH. 

Now  though  sijeune  is  a  somewhat  vague  term  and  may 
fairly  apply  to  any  age  under  eighteen,  that  of  thirteen  is 
certainly  very  young  for  an  appointment  of  this  sort.  But  a 
stronger  objection  to  M.  Courbet's  date  is  that  it  puts  the 
Second  satire  as  early  as  1597,  while  none  of  the  other  satires, 
except  possibly  the  Third  and  the  Seventh,  were  written 
before  1603.  There  are  two  possible  dates  for  the  Third, 
1598  and  1603,  and  of  these  the  latter  is  preferable  because  it 
is  too  mature  to  be  the  work  of  a  young  man  of  five  and 
twenty.  There  is  nothing  to  help  us  to  the  date  of  the 
Seventh  except  its  similarity  in  tone  to  the  Third.  Supposing 
then  the  Second  satire  to  have  been  written  in  1597,  it  means 
that  Regnier  wrote  only  two  satires,  or  at  the  most  three,  in  a 
period  of  six  years,  and  that  he  began  to  write  at  the  age  of 
twenty-four,  an  early  age  for  a  kind  of  writing  which  psquinjs 
considerable  knowledge  of  human  nature.  I  should  therefore 
conjecture  that  Regnier  entered  the  service  of  Joyeuse  in  the 
first  half  of  1591  and  accompanied  him  first  to  Spain  and  then 
to  Italy.  The  Second  satire  would  then  have  been  written  in 
1601. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Editions. 

Les premieres  (Euvres  de  M.  Regnier,  1608  (contains  satires  i — ix  and 
xii  :  see  Cat.  Ruble  No.  216  ;  there  are  also  copies  in  the  Bib.  Nat.  and  the 
Arsenal  library) ;  Les  Satyres  du  Sieur  Regnier,  Reueues  iS~=  augmenties  de 
nouueau,  1609  (x  and  xi  added,  Brit.  Mus.)  ;  same  title,  1612  (xiii,  Macette 
added)  ;  same  title,  161 3  (contains  satires  i — xvii  and  other  pieces,  see  Le 
Petit  p.  1 10)  ;  Les  Satyres  et  autres  asuvres  [Leyden,  Elsevier]  1642; 
same  title,  Leyden,  J.  &.  D.  Elsevier,  1652  ;  Les  Satyres  de  Regnier  avec 
des  remarques  (ed.  C.  Brossette),  London,  4to.  1729.  The  4to  edition, 
published  by  Tonson  in  1733  under  the  title  of  Satyres  et  autres  eeuvres  de 
Regnier,  accompagnces  de  remarques  historiques,  is  an  impudent  counter- 
feit of  the  preceding  by  the  Abbe"  Lenglet  du  Fresnoy. 

(Euvres  completes,  ed.  Viollet  le  Due,  1822  ;  ed.  E.  Courbet,  1869  ;  2nd 
ed.  1875  (with  a  life  and  a  full  history  of  the  text)  ;  ed.  L.  Lacour,  1876. 

All  the  above  editions,  except  the  last,  represent  successive  stages  of 
the  text.     In  that  of  1609  satires  x  and  xi  are  very  incorrectly  printed,  as 


XXVIII]  REGNIER  309 

is  satire  xv.  in  the  edition  of  1613.  Certain  improvements  in  the  text, 
supplementing  those  introduced  by  M.  Courbet,  have  been  suggested  by 
R.  Dezeimeris,  Lemons  nouvelles  et  remarqiies  sur  le  texte  de  divers 
auteurs,  Bordeaux,  1876,  and  Corrections  et  remarques  sur  le  texte  de 
divers  auteurs,  ib.  1880  ;  by  A.  Benoist,  Notes  sur  le  texte  de  Regnier  in 
Annates  de  la  Faculte  dcs  Lettres  de  Bordeaux,  pp.  240 — 249,  1879;  ar)d 
by  J.  Yianey,  Mathurin  Regnier,  pp.  272 — 287,  1896. 


TO   BE   CONSULTED. 

M.  Vianey's  book,  just  mentioned,  is  by  far  the  most  important.  See 
also  C.-A.  Sainte-Beuve,  Tableau,  pp.  i3off.  (the  1842  edition  has  a  separate 
chapter  on  Regnier  and  Andre  Che"nier,  previously  published  in  vol.  I.  of 
Portraits  Litteraires  and  written  in  1829).  F.  Robiou,  Essai  sur  Phistoire 
de  la  litterature  et  des  itioeurs  penda7it  la  preiniere  moitie  du  xviie  siecle, 
pp.  189 — 204,  1858.  C.  Lenient,  La  Satire  en  Fra?ice  au  xvie  siecle,  I. 
120 — h^j  1859.  H.  Cherrier,  Bibliog7'aphie  de  M.  Regnier,  1884.  E. 
Faguet  in  Rev.  des  cours  et  con/.  1895. 


CHAPTER     XXIX 


CONCLUSION 


WE  have  seen  how  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II  Italian  in- 
fluences starting  from  the  encouragement  given  by  Francis  I 
to  Italian  artists  and  men  of  letters  thoroughly  permeated 
French  art  and  literature.  As  a  consequence  some  writers, 
who  regard  the  Renaissance  as  a  peculiarly  Italian  product, 
speak  of  the  reign  of  Henry  II  as  the  period  in  which  the 
French  Renaissance  reached  its  zenith.  To  some  extent  this 
is  true.  Under  some  aspects  the  reign  of  Francis  I,  especially 
from  the  point  of  view  of  literature,  may  be  considered  as  the 
preparation  for  the  Renaissance  rather  than  as  the  Renais- 
sance itself,  or  at  any  rate  as  the  dawn  of  the  Renaissance 
rather  than  as  its  full  noontide.  For  we  find  that  none  of 
the  writers  of  that  reign,  neither  Marot  nor  Rabelais  nor 
Margaret  of  Navarre,  have  altogether  shaken  themselves  free 
from  mediaeval  traditions.  But  when  we  come  to  compare  the 
two  periods,  the  national  period  and  the  Italian  period,  we  see 
that  the  advantage  is  not  altogether  on  the  side  of  the  latter. 
If  the  later  literature  is  more  artistic,  it  is  also  more  conscious 
of  its  art.  It  is  less  robust,  less  spontaneous.  Elegance  takes 
the  place  of  energy,  culture  of  vitality. 

Further  if  Ronsard  and  Du  Bellay  have  a  more  serious 
conception  of  art,  Rabelais  and  Margaret  of  Navarre  have 
a  more  serious  conception  of  life.  This  is  due  in  a 
measure  to  the  influence  of  that  religious  movement  which 
was   itself  a   product  of  the  Renaissance  spirit.     With   that 


XXIX]  CONCLUSION  311 

movement  no  one  at  the  outset  shewed  greater  sympathy 
than  Margaret  of  Navarre,  and  though  she  never  separated 
herself  from  the  Church  of  her  ancestors,  the  strong  impression 
which  the  new  doctrines  made  upon  her  quickened  the 
spiritual  side  of  her  deeply  religious  nature.  The  same 
sympathy  with  the  new  doctrines  finds  a  cautious  expression 
in  Rabelais's  Gargantua,  and  though  the  Utopian  dream  with 
which  the  book  concludes  warns  us  how  little  its  author  was 
likely  to  accept  the  form  in  which  French  Protestantism  was 
on  the  eve  of  being  dogmatised  by  Calvin,  the  influence  of  the 
religious  controversy  may  be  traced  in  the  more  philosophic 
character  of  the  Third  book.  Marot  who  became  a  Pro- 
testant was  a  less  serious  thinker  than  either  Margaret  or 
Rabelais  who  remained  Catholics,  but  though  his  pleasure- 
loving  nature  found  its  most  complete  expression  in  rondeaitx 
and  familiar  epistles  and  other  lighter  forms  of  verse,  some  of 
his  less-known  and  less  successful  poems  manifest  a  serious 
and  religious  spirit. 

During  the  last  ten  years  of  his  reign  Francis  I  shewed 
increasing  hostility  to  the  new  religious  doctrines.  The 
attitude  of  his  successor  was  even  more  uncompromising ;  on 
that  point  alone  his  three  advisers,  Diane  de  Poitiers,  the 
Constable  de  Montmorency,  and  the  Cardinal  de  Lorraine 
were  of  the  same  mind.  It  followed  that  the  poets  of  the 
Pleiad,  who  depended  largely  on  Court  favour,  shared  none 
of  the  Protestant  sympathies  of  the  older  generation.  Du 
Bellay  might  satirise  the  Roman  curia,  Ronsard  might  call 
attention  to  the  shortcomings  of  the  French  clergy,  but  they 
could  not  be  other  than  loyal  supporters  of  a  Church  of  which 
they  were  beneficiaries.  At  heart  their  religion,  as  of  most  of 
their  fellow-poets,  was  a  strange  compound  of  Christianity 
and  paganism,  a  Christianity  which  was  mainly  formal  and 
ceremonial,  a  paganism  shorn  of  its  nobler  ideals  and  more 
spiritual  aspirations.  To  enjoy  life  in  its  most  beautiful 
forms,  whether  of  art  or  of  nature,  was  the  whole  sum  of  their 
philosophy. 

Such  being  the  difference  in  character  between  these  two 
phases  of  the   French  Renaissance,  the  literature  of  the  one 


312  CONCLUSION  [CH. 

being  hardy  and  native,  of  the  other  beautiful  and  exotic,  it 
was  of  the  greatest  advantage  to  the  successful  developement 
of  French  literature  that  the  Italian  phase  was  preceded  by 
the  national  one.  When  the  Pleiad  issued  their  manifesto, 
the  foundations  of  a  great  national  literature  had  already 
been  laid,  and  it  was  upon  these  foundations,  however  much 
they  might  ignore  them,  that  they  themselves  built.  There 
was  no  such  break  of  continuity  as  they  pretended  in 
French  literature.  They  only  carried  out  with  a  bolder 
hand  and  in  a  more  conscious  spirit  what  their  prede- 
cessors had  begun.  Indeed  when  their  day  was  over  and 
their  successor  Malherbe  treated  them  with  the  same  con- 
tumely with  which  they  had  treated  Marot,  their  whole  work 
might  have  perished  had  it  not  rested  upon  the  foundations 
which  Marot  and  Rabelais  and  Margaret  of  Navarre  had  laid. 
Happily  it  did  not,  and  the  lesson  which  they  taught  to  their 
countrymen  was  never  unlearnt.  This  lesson  was  the  value 
of  style. 

But,  as  we  have  seen,  even  before  the  advent  of  Malherbe 
a  reaction  began  to  set  in  not  merely  against  the  poetry  of 
the  Pleiad  but  against  the  whole  Italian  influence.  After  the 
death  of  Charles  IX  and  the  retirement  of  Ronsard  from  the 
Court  (1574)  the  Pleiad  divided  into  two  streams,  the  one 
represented  by  the  Protestant  provincial,  Du  Bartas,  whose 
poetry  is  a  protest  against  the  paganism  and  frivolity  of  the 
court  poets,  and  the  other  by  the  Catholic  courtier,  Desportes, 
who,  while  he  pillages  the  Italians  even  more  sedulously  than 
his  predecessors,  returns  in  his  less  imitative  productions  to 
the  lighter  and  more  realistic  vein  of  Marot.  In  his  con- 
temporaries Passerat  and  Durant  this  tendency  is  even  more 
strongly  marked.  The  attack  upon  Italian  influences  was 
further  enforced  by  the  two  treatises  which  Henri  Estienne 
published  in  1579  and  1580  in  defence  of  the  national 
language.  Lastly  the  nameless  abominations  and  grotesque 
superstitions  of  the  court  of  Henry  III  intensified  the  dislike 
of  all  Italian  ideas  and  fashions. 

This  reaction  against  Italian  influence  affected  also  the 
whole   attitude  of  thought  towards   the   Renaissance.     The 


XXIX]  CONCLUSION  313 

unhappy  condition  of  the  country,  the  long  religious  warfare, 
the  impotent  government,  inspired  all  thoughtful  men  with 
a  sense  of  disillusion.  The  promise  of  the  Renaissance 
had  apparently  died  away  in  bloodshed  and  anarchy.  The 
golden  age  of  learning  which  Gargantua  had  hailed  with 
such  eloquent  enthusiasm  had  made  the  world  neither  better 
nor  wiser. 

Montaigne  is  too  original  a  thinker  to  be  really  typical  of 
the  thought  of  his  time,  but  seeing  that  he  is  the  greatest 
name  of  this  third  and  last  phase  of  the  French  Renaissance 
it  is  pertinent  to  consider  his  attitude  towards  the  Renaissance 
generally.  Like  his  whole  view  of  life  it  was  complex,  and 
even  inconsistent.  He  was  an  enthusiastic  admirer  and 
constant  reader  of  classical  literature,  but  unlike  the  ardent 
humanists  of  the  first  half  of  the  century  he  knew  Greek 
imperfectly  and  preferred  to  read  Greek  authors  in  Latin  or 
French  translations.  He  is  not  altogether  in  favour  of  the 
humanistic  education  of  his  day.  "  Greek  and  Latin,"  he  says, 
"are  fine  accomplishments,  but  we  pay  too  dearly  for  them." 
He  accepts  unquestioned  any  statement  of  fact  by  a  classical 
writer,  but  he  is  by  no  means  a  slave  to  their  opinions. 
Similarly  with  regard  to  Italian  literature.  His  library  was 
full  of  Italian  books,  and  he  was  a  great  admirer  of  the 
Italian  epistolary  writers,  and  a  reader  of  Guicciardini  and 
the  other  Italian  historians.  But  he  accuses  those  of 
barbarous  stupidity  who  compare  Ariosto  with  Virgil,  and  he 
has  a  higher  opinion  of  the  French  poets  of  his  own  day, 
especially  of  Ronsard  and  Du  Bellay,  whom  he  finds  in  certain 
respects  "  not  far  short  of  the  ancient  perfection." 

Montaigne,  as  we  know,  did  not  mind  being  inconsistent, 
but  we  may  find  a  certain  consistency  in  his  attitude  towards 
the  Renaissance  by  describing  it  as  the  developement  to  their 
logical  results  of  its  two  fundamental  principles,  individualism 
and  the  right  of  free  inquiry.  If  the  individual  is  to  have  free 
play  for  his  actions  and  aspirations,  if  he  is  to  be  a  law  unto 
himself,  it  becomes  of  the  highest  importance  that  he  should 
know  himself.  If  he  is  to  enjoy  life  he  must  know  how  to 
live,  and  if  this  enjoyment  is  not  to  be  overshadowed  by  the 


3H 


CONCLUSION  [CH. 


constant  fear  of  death  he  must  know  how  to  die1.  But  this 
study  of  man  and  human  nature  which  Montaigne  advocated 
as  the  basis  of  all  education  and  all  philosophy  implies  a 
seriousness  of  purpose  and  a  constancy  of  aim  quite  contrary 
to  the  restless  craving  after  pleasure  and  excitement  which  is 
so  characteristic  of  the  Renaissance.  Thus  this  very  principle 
of  the  Renaissance  became  in  Montaigne's  hands  a  corrective 
of  the  excess  to  which  it  had  been  carried. 

So  with  regard  to  the  right  of  free  inquiry.  The  earlier 
French  humanists  were  dazzled  by  the  vision  of  a  world  in 
which  this  right  was  fully  recognised,  and  were  too  much 
engrossed  in  the  exploration  of  its  treasures  to  think  of  criti- 
cising it.  They  paid  almost  the  same  reverence  to  classical 
antiquity  as  their  forefathers  had  paid  to  the  Church.  The  first 
Frenchman  who  seriously  questioned  its  authority  was  Pierre 
Ramus.  Montaigne,  though  his  criticism  of  the  ancient 
writers  was  less  bold  than  that  of  Ramus,  was  far  more 
comprehensive  in  his  application  of  the  right  of  free  inquiry. 
He  not  only  questioned  by  the  light  of  common  sense  most 
existing  institutions  and  opinions,  but  he  attacked  the  very 
basis  of  all  knowledge.  However  incomplete  and  inconsistent 
his  scepticism  may  have  been,  it  at  any  rate  inspired  him, 
even  in  his  most  hopeful  moments,  with  an  exceedingly 
modest  estimate  of  human  virtue  and  wisdom.  The  Essays, 
it  is  true,  end  on  a  note  of  tranquil  serenity,  which  reminds 
one  of  Shakespeare's  Tempest,  but  it  is  far  removed  from  the 
buoyant  optimism  of  the  Abbey  of  Thelema  and  the  oracle  of 
the  Bottle.  It  tells  us  that  the  Renaissance  day  is  drawing 
to  its  close. 

Thus  the  three  periods  into  which  this  history  has  been 
divided  roughly  represent  three  distinct  phases  not  only  of 
French  Renaissance  literature  but  of  the  Renaissance  itself. 
But  these  phases  share  in  common  certain  characteristics 
which  impress  upon  the  whole  literature  a  persistent  and  well- 
defined  character.     In  the  first  place  it  is  strongly  individual- 


1   It    will    be   recollected  that   the  title  of  Montaigne's   first   important  essay 
(i.  19)  is,  To  be  a  philosopher  is  to  learn  how  to  die. 


XXIX]  CONCLUSION  3 1 5 

istic.  The  definition  of  literature  as  the  expression  of  society 
is  obviously  an  incomplete  one,  but  of  no  body  of  literature  is 
it  more  incomplete  than  of  that  which  we  are  now  considering. 
There  is  hardly  a  work  of  the  sixteenth  century,  however  im- 
personal in  form,  which  is  not  full  of  information  as  to  the  life 
and  character  of  the  writer.  Pantagruel  abounds  in  personal 
reminiscences ;  the  tales  of  the  Heptameron  profess  to  be  all 
within  the  experience  of  the  royal  authoress  or  her  immediate 
circle ;  Marot  is  a  delightful  egoist ;  Du  Bellay's  poetry 
charms  us  by  its  intimate  note;  many  of  Ronsard's  poems 
contain  long  autobiographical  passages ;  autobiography  has 
invaded  D'Aubigne's  History  and  inspired  him  with  the 
finest  episode  in  Les  Tragiqucs ;  in  no  period  of  French 
literature  has  the  harvest  of  personal  memoirs  been  more 
abundant  or  more  remarkable.  Thus  Montaigne  in  making 
himself  the  centre  of  his  book  was  only  carrying  out  in  a 
more  thorough  and  more  conscious  fashion  the  practice  of 
nearly  every  writer  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

Le  sot  projet  de  se  peindre  says  Pascal ;  but  the  world  is 
not  of  his  opinion.  The  world  likes  self-portraiture,  provided 
only  that  it  is  sincere  and  without  pose.  Now  this  is  em- 
phatically the  case  with  the  writers  of  our  period;  with  the 
single  exception  of  Margaret  of  Valois  they  are  absolutely 
sincere  and  unaffected.  Their  books  are  livres  dc  bonne  foi, 
and  they  talk  about  themselves,  not  because  they  think 
they  are  interesting  to  others,  but  because  they  are  supremely 
interested  in  themselves.  The  result  is  that  whatever  they 
write  has  at  least  the  merit  of  freshness  and  enthusiasm. 
Even  the  most  imitative  work  of  the  Pleiad  catches  from 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  writers  a  breath  of  life  and  originality 
often  wanting  to  their  models. 

Now  this  keen  enjoyment  of  life  on  the  part  of  the 
Renaissance  writers  arises  in  part  from  the  strength  of  their 
sensuous  impressions.  Hence  gusto,  which  is  the  recognised 
name  in  literature  and  art  for  the  expression  of  strong 
sensuous  impressions,  is  a  quality  of  frequent  occurrence  in 
Renaissance  literature.  The  most  notable  example  is  Rabelais, 
who,  according  to  Hazlitt  in  his  well-known  essay  on  Gusto, 


316  CONCLUSION  [CH. 

has,  with  Boccaccio,  more  of  it  than  any  other  prose  writer. 
But  it  is  to  be  found  also,  if  in  a  less  degree,  in  Margaret  of 
Navarre  and  Montaigne,  in  Brantome  and  Monluc,  in  Henri 
Estienne  and  D'Aubigne.  In  all  of  these  it  often  takes  the 
form  of  extraordinary  vividness  of  presentment  so  that  scenes 
and  events  stand  out  on  their  canvas  in  brilliant  colour  and 
relief. 

Gusto  implies  strong  rather  than  deep  emotion.  Hence 
it  is  associated,  as  a  rule,  with  a  lively  rather  than  with  a 
penetrative  imagination.  This  is  the  case  with  the  writers 
of  the  French  Renaissance.  Their  imagination  plays  with 
the  surface  of  things  and  does  not  penetrate  to  the 
depths.  It  is  illustrative  rather  than  creative.  The  creative 
writers  of  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Rabelais, 
Margaret  of  Navarre,  and  Des  Periers,  have  no  more  im- 
agination than  is  absolutely  necessary  for  all  artistic  creation. 
Rabelais  is  the  least  imaginative  of  the  great  creative 
writers  of  the  world.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  the  great 
achievement  of  the  Pleiad  that  they  introduced  imagination 
into  poetic  style,  that  they  recognised  it  to  be  an  indispens- 
able quality  of  the  language  of  poetry.  And  their  influence 
affected  also  the  language  of  prose.  The  style  of  Amyot  and 
of  Montaigne  is  essentially  an  imaginative  style.  Thus  down 
to  the  advent  of  Malherbe  imagination  becomes  an  unfailing 
characteristic  of  prose  and  verse  alike. 

These  then  are  the  great  qualities  of  French  Renaissance 
literature,  individuality,  vividness,  imagination.  But  if  it  is 
great  on  the  human  side,  it  is  weak  on  the  artistic  side.  If 
the  writers  have  in  full  measure  the  energy,  the  sincerity,  and 
the  strong  feeling  which  are  necessary  for  the  genesis  of  a 
work  of  art,  they  lack  the  sense  of  form  which  is  required 
to  perfect  the  artistic  conception.  It  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that  no  work  of  any  considerable  length  by  any  writer  of 
the  French  Renaissance  is  constructed  on  a  preconceived 
plan.  They  write  as  their  mood  prompts  them,  they  give 
rein  to  their  inspiration  and  become  its  servant  instead 
of  its  master.  It  is  needless  to  multiply  instances.  Mon- 
taigne alone  will   suffice.     For    Montaigne   had    the    artistic 


XXIX]  CONCLUSION  317 

temperament  in  a  strong  degree,  and  in  his  later  essays  at 
any  rate  he  shews  true  artistic  care  and  affection  for  his 
work.  Yet  his  essays  are  formless,  and  this  very  formlessness 
is  one  of  their  charms.  It  is  true  that  we  may  detect  a  central 
idea  in  even  the  most  rambling  of  his  vagabondages  and  that 
some  of  his  admirers  have  maintained  that  the  apparent 
disorder  of  his  writing  veils  without  wholly  concealing  a 
higher  order1.  But  this  theory  does  not  explain  the  additions 
which  Montaigne  was  in  the  habit  of  making  to  his  essays 
after  their  publication.  For  though  an  accomplished  artist 
may  go  on  putting  fresh  touches  to  his  work  long  after  it  is 
practically  finished,  he  will  not  make  changes  in  detail  which 
obviously  interfere  with  its  unity. 

The  artistic  execution  of  the  Renaissance  writers  is 
superior  to  their  artistic  conception,  but  it  is  the  execution 
of  gifted  amateurs  rather  than  of  trained  artists.  For  all 
their  admiration  for  Greek  poetry,  the  Pleiad  failed  to 
learn  from  their  masters  the  lessons  of  self-restraint  and 
moderation,   of  patient   and   accurate   workmanship. 

Vingt  fois  sur  le  metier  remettez  votre  ouvrage, 
Polissez-le  sans  cesse,  et  le  repolissez, 
Ajoutez  quelquefois,  et  souvent  effacez. 

This  advice  of  Boileau's  was  wholly  alien  to  the  spirit  and 
practice  of  most  of  the  writers  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
Hence,  except  in  quite  short  pieces,  their  work  is  seldom,  if 
ever,  perfect  in  execution  throughout,  and  it  may  be  said  of 
all  of  them,  even  of  Rabelais  and  Montaigne,  that  they  are 
better  to  read  in  than  to  read  continuously.  This  lack  of  the 
critical  habit  in  literature  was  in  conformity  with  the  general 
spirit  of  the  age,  but  it  was  partly  due  to  the  absence  of  a 
central  standard  either  in  language  or  in  taste. 

We  have  seen  that  during  the  reigns  of  Francis  I  and 
Henry  II  such  a  standard  was  in  a  measure  furnished  by  the 
Court  and  that  we  can  trace  its  influence,  not    only  in    the 

1  See  especially  E.  Ruel,  op.  cit.  c.  iii  {Les  "essais"  sont  une  auvre  (far/),  and 
pp.  374  ff.  where  he  gives  an  analysis  of  the  essay  entitled  Des  caches;  see  also 
ante,  pp.  172  f. 


3D 


CONCLUSION  [CH. 


poetry  of  Marot  and  Saint-Gelais  and  the  Pleiad  school,  but 
in  the  French  versions  of  Amadis  and  the  Decameron,  and 
even  in  the  more  famous  translations  made  by  Amyot.  But  a 
Court  standard  is  not  the  same  thing  as  a  national  standard, 
for  like  that  of  every  small  coterie  it  is  liable  to  be  debased 
by  the  alloys  of  passing  fashion.  Thus  under  Henry  II 
Italian  influences  began,  as  we  have  seen,  to  invade  alike 
taste  and  language,  increasing  in  force  under  the  rule  of 
Catharine  de'  Medici  till  exaggeration  brought  the  in- 
evitable reaction.  Moreover  the  unity  of  the  kingdom, 
which  had  been  steadily  growing  during  the  reigns  of 
Francis  I  and  his  son,  received  a  severe  check  from  the  wars 
of  religion.  For  the  next  thirty  years  not  only  was  France 
divided  into  two  camps,  but  the  great  nobles,  who  had  been 
gradually  coming  to  recognise  the  central  authority  of  the 
Crown,  began  once  more  to  assert  their  independence  and  to 
make  the  public  troubles  a  pretext  for  personal  insubordi- 
nation. 

These  centrifugal  forces  acted  inevitably  on  literature. 
By  far  the  most  important  of  the  literary  work  that  was 
produced  in  France  during  the  last  twenty  years  of  the  six- 
teenth century  was  written  far  away  from  the  Court  or  the 
capital.  The  most  productive  quarter  was  Gascon}-,  where 
Montaigne,  Monluc,  and  Brantome,  each  in  the  retreat  of  his 
own  chateau,  wrote  ostensibly  to  beguile  their  leisure  and  at 
any  rate  with  no  idea  of  conformity  to  a  central  standard. 
To  the  same  province  belonged  Pierre  de  Brach  and  his 
better-known  friend  Du  Bartas,  whose  poetry  is  a  notable 
instance  of  the  evil  effects  of  provincialism  on  literature.  The 
works  of  most  of  these  Gascon  writers  were  published  at 
Bordeaux,  which  with  its  flourishing  College  of  Guyenne 
served  as  the  intellectual  centre  of  the  whole  South-western 
district  of  France. 

Another  such  centre  was  Poitiers,  where  between  the  years 
1550  and  1560  an  offshoot  of  the  Pleiad  was  formed  under  the 
leadership  of  Jacques  Tahureau.  Further  to  the  x\orth  we 
find  Noel  du  Fail  publishing  at  the  Breton  capital,  Rennes, 
work  of  which  the  chief  interest  lies  in  its  strong  local  flavour. 


XXIX]  CONCLUSION  319 

Of  Normandy,  with  its  two  centres,  Rouen  and  the  university- 
town  of  Caen,  the  chief  representative  during  our  period  is 
Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye,  who  resided  at  Caen,  but  Rouen 
also  served  as  a  literary  capital  for  the  neighbouring  province 
of  Maine,  and  it  was  at  Rouen  that  the  majority  of  the 
editions  of  Garnier's  plays  were  published.  But  even  during 
this  period  Norman  aspirants  to  literary  fame  began  to  turn 
their  steps  to  Paris  ;  Bertaut  and  Du  Perron  were  heralds  of 
Malherbe,  the  sworn  enemy  of  provincialism. 

Nothing  like  the  same  literary  activity  was  shewn  in  the 
Eastern  half  of  France.  Neither  Reims,  the  capital  of 
Champagne,  nor  Dijon,  the  capital  of  Burgundy,  were  of  any 
importance  in  the  literary  world,  and  if  Larivey,  as  it  is 
possible,  wrote  his  comedies  at  Troyes,  they  were  published 
at  Paris.  Even  Lyons,  which  during  the  reign  of  Francis  I 
had  been  second  only  to  Paris  as  a  literary  and  intellectual 
centre,  was  throughout  the  second  half  of  the  sixteenth 
century  illustrated  by  no  name  except  that  of  Louise  Labe, 
whose  tiny  volume  was  printed  there  at  the  very  beginning  of 
that  period.  Half-way  between  Lyons  and  the  sea,  among 
the  hills  to  the  west  of  the  Rhone  valley,  Olivier  de  Serres 
wrote  his  great  treatise  on  Agriculture. 

A  notable  exception  to  the  general  lack  of  self-criticism  is 
furnished  by  Amyot,  who  in  every  line  reveals  the  conscien- 
tious and  critical  artist.  He  was  in  consequence  the  one  prose 
author  of  the  sixteenth  century  who  was  accepted  unchallenged 
by  the  seventeenth,  a  fact  which  suggests  a  brief  retrospect  of 
the  developement  of  French  prose  during  our  period.  At  the 
close  of  the  first  half  of  the  century  the  two  great  masters  of 
French  prose  were  Rabelais  and  Calvin,  but  they  were 
masters  in  very  different  styles.  Rabelais  is  picturesque  and 
imaginative,  Calvin  abstract  and  logical.  Calvin  writes  as  a 
thinker,  Rabelais  as  an  artist.  Rabelais  therefore  uses  freely 
all  the  constructions  of  the  older  language  which  make 
for  picturesqueness  or  harmony,  such  as  the  omission  of  the 
article  and  the  pronoun,  the  use  of  the  infinitive  as  a 
substantive,  ellipse,  and  inversion.  His  use  of  the  last  for 
the  sake  of  a  harmonious  cadence,  even   at  the  expense  of 


320  CONCLUSION  [CH. 

lucidity,  is  very  noticeable,  and  becomes  more  daring  with 
advancing  years.  It  must  be  remembered  that  these  con- 
structions were  the  heritage  of  mediaeval  French  from  Latin, 
and  that  the  revived  study  of  Latin  would  naturally  tend  to 
continue  them  in  favour  with  scholars  like  Rabelais.  Still 
more  marked  was  the  influence  of  Latin  upon  syntax,  and 
Rabelais's  sentences  are  often  purely  Latin  in  construction. 

Calvin,  starting  from  the  same  point  as  Rabelais,  was  led 
by  different  aims  to  a  different  goal.  His  chief  object  being 
to  convince,  he  gradually  freed  himself  from  archaisms  and 
Latinisms,  which,  however  much  they  might  contribute  to  the 
picturesqueness  and  harmony  of  the  sentence,  were  hindrances 
to  its  lucidity.  In  so  doing  he  was  following  partly  the 
natural  bent  of  his  logical  mind,  partly  the  prevailing  trend 
of  the  language.  Even  before  Rabelais's  death  we  find 
Joachim  du  Bellay,  in  the  Deffoice,  warning  the  young  poet 
not  to  fall  into  the  common  vice  of  omitting  the  article,  a 
vice  by  the  way  from  which  he  himself  is  not  altogether  free. 
Fifteen  years  later  Ronsard,  in  the  Abrege  de  I'art  poetiquc 
(1565),  repeats  the  injunction,  coupling  with  it  another,  not  to 
omit  the  personal  pronoun.  In  the  second  preface  to  the 
Franciade,  written  after  1572,  he  pronounces  strongly  against 
inversion,  even  in  poetry.  The  other  archaisms  noticed  above 
lingered  somewhat  longer.  The  use  of  the  infinitive  as  a 
substantive  is  practised  even  by  Protestant  writers,  such  as 
La  Noue  and  Du  Plessis-Mornay.  Another  Protestant,  Henri 
Estienne,  though,  like  his  co-religionists,  he  belongs  on  the 
whole  to  the  progressive  school,  still  clings  in  some  matters  to 
the  older  ways.  But  La  Noue  and  Estienne,  as  well  as 
another  Protestant,  D'Aubigne,  happened  to  be  close  students 
of  Rabelais,  whose  influence,  there  can  be  little  doubt,  did 
something  to  stay  the  decay  of  the  old  picturesque  forms. 

It  is  Amyot  who  best  marks  the  change  that  was  coming 
over  French  prose.  Though  his  style  retains  to  the  last  the 
picturesque  and  imaginative  character  of  the  older  school,  he 
gradually  abandons  such  archaisms  as  inversion  and  the 
omission  of  the  article  and  the  pronoun.  But  the  great 
service  that  he  rendered  to  French  prose  was  the  improve- 


XXIX]  CONCLUSION  321 

ment  of  the  period.  In  the  later-written  of  his  Lives,  which 
were  completed  in  1559,  his  periods,  though  still  somewhat 
long,  are  constructed  with  considerable  art.  They  are  well- 
balanced,  harmonious,  and  above  all  thoroughly  French  in 
construction.  Finally,  as  we  have  seen,  in  his  treatise  on 
rhetoric,  written  after  the  accession  of  Henry  III,  he  declares 
himself  in  favour  of  a  shorter  period,  and  his  practice  corre- 
sponds to  his  precept. 

His  greatest  pupil  was  Montaigne,  who  wrote  his  first 
considerable  and  really  characteristic  essay,  the  nineteenth 
of  the  first  book,  That  philosophy  is  to  know  how  to  die,  in  the 
year  of  the  publication  of  the  (Euvres  morales.  Like  his 
master  he  belongs  to  the  picturesque  and  imaginative  school, 
but  like  him  he  has  moved  with  the  times,  and  even  in  the 
earliest  specimen  that  we  have  of  his  writing,  the  letter  to  his 
father  on  the  death  of  La  Boetie  (1563),  there  is  hardly  an 
inversion  or  an  omission  of  an  article  or  a  pronoun.  His  trans- 
lation of  Raymond  de  Sebonde  is  written  in  a  clear  though 
undistinguished  style.  But  the  "  incomparable "  Essays, 
however  superior  to  Amyot's  work  in  brilliancy  and  genius, 
are  inferior  as  models  of  French  prose.  The  language  is  less 
pure  and  less  precise  than  Amyot's,  the  construction  of  his 
periods  less  orderly  and  harmonious.  For  Montaigne's  aim 
was  to  write  "as  a  man  and  not  as  an  author,"  to  fit  his  style 
to  the  ever-changing  facets  of  his  thought.  He  is  therefore 
careless  of  form  and  harmony.  He  sacrifices  everything,  even 
lucidity,  to  the  truth  of  the  impression. 

But  meanwhile  the  general  trend  of  French  prose  was  in 
the  direction  of  restraint  and  logic.  With  the  better  writers 
sentences  became  shorter  and  less  involved,  their  use  of 
words  more  precise,  and  their  sense  of  harmony  more  sure. 
There  was  still,  however,  much  to  learn,  how  much  may  be 
judged  from  the  comparison  already  made  between  the  prose 
of  Du  Vair  and  Du  Perron  and  that  of  Jean  Guez  de  Balzac 
thirty  years  later.  But  the  lessons  of  Rabelais  and  Montaigne 
were  not  lost ;  when  after  another  thirty  years  Pascal  created 
modern  French  prose,  he  united  the  variety  of  Rabelais  with 
the  sincerity  of  Montaigne. 

t.  11.  21 


322  CONCLUSION  [CH. 

This  change  in  the  character  of  French  prose  from  disorder 
to  order,  from  the  long  period  to  the  short  one,  from  the  sway 
of  imagination  to  the  sway  of  reason,  is  exactly  paralleled  in 
our  own  literature,  though  with  us  it  took  place  somewhat 
later,  chiefly  between  the  years  1660  and  1680.  In  fact  the 
literature  of  the  English  Renaissance  followed  more  or  less 
the  same  course  as  that  of  the  French.  The  publication  of 
Tottel's  Miscellany  in  1557  corresponds  to  that  of  Marot's 
poems  in  1532,  The  SJiepheards  Calendar  of  1579  to  Ronsard's 
Odes  of  1550,  and  though  there  is  no  landmark  in  the  history 
of  English  poetry  so  sharply  defined  as  the  arrival  of  Malherbe 
at  Paris  in  1605,  the  beginning  of  our  age  of  reason  is  roughly 
indicated  by  the  appearance  of  Denham's  Cooper's  Hill  in 
1642,  and  of  Waller's  poems  in    1645. 

English  prose  was  slower  of  developement  than  English 
poetry,  for  it  produced  nothing  comparable  to  the  work  of 
Rabelais  until  the  appearance  of  Hooker's  Ecclesiastical 
Polity  in  1594,  more  than  forty  years  after  the  great  French- 
man's death.  After  that  came  Bacon,  Ben  Jonson,  Burton, 
and  the  splendid  but  unequal  writers  of  the  Caroline  age. 
But  none  of  them,  unless  it  be  Bacon,  can  be  named  with 
Rabelais  and  Montaigne.  For  these  two  are  not  only  great 
artists  in  prose  but  they  are,  like  Shakespeare,  among  the 
greatest  names  of  literature  ;  their  message  is  for  all  time 
and  to  all  the  world.  To  them  we  must  add  not  only  Calvin 
and  Amyot,  but  a  number  of  lesser  prose-writers  whose  work, 
if  less  mature  than  the  best  poetry  of  the  Pleiad,  is  superior 
to  it  in  energy  and  intellectual  power.  Thus  while  the 
English  Renaissance  is  strongest  on  the  poetic  side,  while 
there  is  nothing  in  France  to  match  the  high  poetic  achieve- 
ment of  the  Fairy  Queen,  the  melody  and  passion  of  our 
songs  and  lyrics,  the  splendour  of  our  drama,  the  French 
Renaissance  is  strongest  on  the  side  of  prose,  and  in  three 
departments  of  it,  memoir-writing,  the  short  story,  and  prose- 
satire,  shews  a  decided  superiority. 

The  number  and  excellence  of  the  memoirs  which  were 
produced  in  France  during  the  last  quarter  of  the  sixteenth 
century  has  already  been  sufficiently  pointed  out.      Although 


XXIX]  CONCLUSION  323 

the  second  half  of  the  century  produced  no  collection  of  tales 
equal  to  those  of  Margaret  of  Navarre  and  Desperiers,  several 
writers  of  this  period  possessed  considerable  skill  in  telling 
a  story,  such  as  Noel  du  Fail,  Henri  Estienne  and  D'Aubigne, 
and  not  a  few  works  owed  their  popularity  to  the  numerous 
short  stories  which  they  contained.  In  nearly  all  of  them  the 
spirit  of  satire  was  strong,  but  satire  took  many  other  forms. 
Its  highest  achievement  in  prose  was  the  Satire  Menippee, 
and  in  verse  it  produced  some  of  the  finest  examples  of 
French  Renaissance  literature,  Regnier's  Macette  with  portions 
of  his  other  satires,  the  finest  passages  in  D'Aubigne's  Les 
Tragiques,  and  the  satirical  sonnets  of  Du  Bellay's  Regrets. 
Between  these  and  the  rough  and  artificial  work  of  Donne, 
Hall,  and   Marston  there  is  no  comparison. 

But  underlying  these  differences,  due  to  national  tempera- 
ment, between  the  Renaissance  literatures  of  France  and 
England  there  is  a  very  considerable  likeness.  In  both  we 
find  the  same  energy  and  freshness,  the  same  enjoyment  of 
life,  the  same  imaginative  glow,  the  same  carelessness  with 
regard  to  execution  and  form.  On  the  other  hand  we  note 
with  something  of  surprise  a  great  dissimilarity  between  the 
Renaissance  literature  of  France  and  that  of  her  classical  age. 
At  first  sight  they  seem  to  have  hardly  a  single  characteristic 
in  common.  Where  in  the  sixteenth  century,  except  in 
Calvin,  is  the  love  of  order,  the  lucidity,  and  the  almost 
superstitious  regard  for  logic  that  we  have  come  to  regard  as 
innate  qualities  of  the  French  nation  ?  What  becomes  of 
Taine's  theory  of  fixed  racial  characteristics  ? 

It  is  Taine  himself  who  furnishes  the  clue  to  the  answer. 
In  his  remarkable  essay  on  M.  Troplong  et  M.  de  MontaUm- 
bert1,  in  which  he  attributes  the  difference  that  has  always 
existed  between  the  government  of  England  and  that  of  France 
partly  to  political  circumstances  and  partly  to  natural  moral 
conditions,  he  describes  his  own  countrymen  as  une  race  ligere 
et  sociable,  which  in  all  ages  has  possessed  "  the  gift  of  being 
clear  and  agreeable,  the  art  of  making  itself  understood,  and 

1  Essais  de  critique  et  cThistoire  (7th  ed.  1896),  pp.  ifxj  IT. 

21 — 2 


324  CONCLUSION  [CH. 

of  being  listened  to."  It  has  also,  he  says,  the  analytical 
faculty1.  The  talent  for  agreeable  talk  and  the  talent  for 
analysis — these  then  may  be  regarded  as  qualities  more  or  less 
innate  in  the  French  race,  and  to  one  or  the  other  of  them 
may  be  traced  those  features  of  French  Renaissance  literature 
which  distinguish  it  from  that  of  this  country,  namely,  its 
success  in  the  conte,  in  satire,  and  in  memoirs. 

But  the  French  people  are  a  product  of  many  races, 
Iberians,  Ligurians,  Celts,  Romans,  Franks,  Burgundians, 
Visigoths,  and  these  races  have  been  moulded  by  a  con- 
siderable diversity  of  climates.  We  must  therefore  be 
prepared  to  find  much  diversity  of  characteristics  alike  in  the 
people  and  in  the  literature.  Moreover  the  literature  of  a 
nation  is  always  more  or  less  liable  to  be  influenced  by  the 
second  of  Taine's  factors,  the  environment.  Thus  we  have 
seen  that  the  poetry  alike  of  Marot  and  of  the  Pleiad  was 
influenced  by  the  courtly  atmosphere  in  which  it  was 
nourished,  that  the  close  connexion  of  France  with  Italy, 
begun  by  war  and  kept  alive  by  marriage  ties  and  intellectual 
intercourse,  ended  by  Italianising  French  poetry,  and  that  the 
long  civil  war  which  divided  and  desolated  the  kingdom  and 
finally  almost  brought  it  under  the  yoke  of  Spain  in  the  end 
awakened  a  renewed  sense  of  national  existence  and  national 
honour,  and  so  implanted  a  stouter  fibre  in  the  literature. 

But  after  all  the  strongest  collective  influence  was  that  of 
the  "  moment."  It  was  the  mighty  irresistible  impulse  of  the 
Renaissance  which  gave  the  literature  its  vigour,  its  freshness, 
its  spontaneity  ;  it  was  the  feeling  of  emancipation  from 
mediaeval  swaddling-clothes  which  led  men  to  give  free 
utterance  to  whatever  stirred  their  emotions  or  stimulated 
their  intellect  ;  it  was  the  thirst  for  personal  glory  and 
posthumous  fame  which  urged  them  to  immortalise  themselves 
in  undying  verse  or  at  least  to  leave  for  posterity  a  record 
of  their  own  lives.  It  is  this  influence  of  a  great  spiritual 
and  intellectual  movement  predominating  over  racial  charac- 
teristics and  political  environment  which  justifies   the  claim 

1  Essais  de  critique  et  d'histoire  (7th  ed.  1896),  pp.  315,  317  and  321. 


XXIX]  CONCLUSION  325 

of  this  literature  to  the  distinctive  name  of  the  literature  of 
the  French  Renaissance. 

One  of  the  chief  forces  in  which  this  movement  found 
expression  was  humanism.  Of  its  influence  on  the  literature 
we  have  had  abundant  evidence  in  these  pages.  Many  of  the 
works  noticed  are  saturated  to  pedantry  with  classical  quota- 
tions and  classical  allusions.  There  is  hardly  a  writer  who 
has  not  at  least  a  tincture  of  classical  learning.  Even  Pare 
and  Palissy,  who  knew  neither  Greek  nor  Latin,  had  a  second- 
hand acquaintance  with  some  classical  authors.  Even  the 
rough  soldier,  Monluc,  called  his  memoirs  Commentaries,  after 
the  example  of  Julius  Caesar.  But  on  the  other  hand,  in  spite 
of  this  cult  of  antiquity,  in  spite  of  the  superstitious  regard 
that  was  paid  to  the  classical  ideal  in  thought  and  art,  and 
even  in  morals,  the  greater  part  of  the  literature  is  wholly 
unclassical  in  form.  And  this  is  not  only  the  case  with  the 
writings  of  the  early  Renaissance,  with  Pantagruel  and  the 
Heptameron ;  but  even  after  the  lesson  had  been  learnt  in 
Dorat's  lecture-room  that  the  great  classical  writers  were 
deserving  of  study  not  only  for  their  learning  and  wisdom 
and  for  the  stimulus  they  gave  to  liberty  of  thought,  but 
for  their  art,  their  devotion  to  form  and  style,  their  patient 
workmanship,  even  then  the  lesson  was  learnt  imperfectly. 

Ronsard,  indeed,  and  Du  Bellay  in  many  of  their  sonnets 
and  shorter  lyrics  have  caught  something  of  classical  restraint 
and  classical  felicity  of  phrase,  and  the  Satire  Mc'nippee, 
thoroughly  national  though  it  is  in  sentiment,  is  classical 
in  its  adherence  to  a  carefully  planned  design.  But  what 
can  be  more  unclassical  in  form  than  Montaigne's  Essays, 
or  the  memoirs  of  Brantome  or  Monluc,  or  Du  Bartas's 
Semaine,  or  D'Aubigne's  Les  Tragiques  and  Histoire  Uni- 
verselle  ?  Even  Regnier,  writing  satires  more  or  less  after 
the  pattern  of  Horace,  has  learnt  from  his  model  no  lessons 
of  artistic  conception  or  artistic  construction. 

This  failure  to  realise  the  classical  ideal  of  literary  art 
was  due  to  the  lack  of  the  critical  spirit.  To  create  this 
spirit    was    the   work    of   Malherbe.     And    when    Malhcrbe's 


326  CONCLUSION  [CH.  XXIX 

work  had  been  perfected  by  Pascal  and  Boileau  French  litera- 
ture became  at  once  national  in  spirit  and  classical  in  form. 
But  to  trace  the  history  of  this  developement,  to  investigate 
the  various  causes  which  made  French  literature  national 
instead  of  provincial,  social  instead  of  individualistic,  rational 
instead  of  imaginative,  lies  beyond  the  scope  of  the  present 
narrative. 


APPENDIX    E. 
The  authorship  of  the  Discours  merveilleux. 

The  latest  event  mentioned  in  the  Discours  merveilleux  is  the 
confirmation  of  Catharine  as  regent  by  the  new  king  Henry  III. 
The  letters-patent  containing  this  confirmation  are  dated  from 
Cracow  June  15,  1574,  and  cannot  well  have  reached  Paris  before 
July  1,  for  Catharine's  messenger  announcing  the  death  of  Charles  IX, 
which  took  place  on  May  30,  reached  Cracow  on  June  15.  The 
writing  of  the  pamphlet  must,  therefore,  have  been  completed  early 
in  July,  and  it  was  probably  printed  and  circulated  soon  afterwards. 
Pierre  de  l'Estoile  notes  in  his  journal  between  September  20  and 
October  1  :  En  ce  temps  la  Vie  de  la  Reine-Mere  imprimke  court 
partoat.     Les  cours  de  Lyon  en  sont pleines  (1.  27). 

But  the  earliest  known  edition  bears  the  date  of  1575.  It  has 
164  pp.  (sig.  a8 — k8 12)  and  is  carelessly  printed  on  fairly  good  paper. 
There  is  no  printer's  name  or  place  of  printing,  but  L'Estoile's 
remark  suggests  either  Lyons  or  Geneva.  The  British  Museum  has 
also  a  copy  of  another  edition  dated  1575.  It  is  printed  in  much 
smaller  type  than  the  preceding  and  has  96  pages  (sig.  A8 — F"). 

In  1576  appeared  a  true  second  edition,  plus  correcte,  mieux  dis- 
posee  que  la  premiere,  et  augmentee  de  quelques  partictilaritez.  Collation : 
a8 — g8i4  k2 ;  one  leaf  not  numbered  +  121  pp.  numbered  in  to  cxxin 
+  one  page  blank.  Without  printer's  name  or  place  of  printing  (a 
copy  in  my  possession).  Among  the  additions  are  a  number  of 
couplets  of  a  sententious  character,  many  of  which  are  translated 
from  Greek  authors.  An  instance  of  its  greater  correctness  is  that 
the  names  of  La  Mole  and  Coconnas  are  now  spelt  correctly, 
whereas  in  the  1575  edition  of  164  pp.  we  find  La  Maule,  and 
variously  Couconnax,  Coconnace,  or  Coconnaz.  A  third  edition. 
published  in  1578,  reproduced  the  text  of  1576.  (See  Lelong,  2nd 
ed.    11.    649.)     But  in   an   edition   published   in    1643    many   of  the 


328  APPENDIX   E 

couplets  are  omitted,  and  this  text  was  reproduced  in  1663  in  an 
edition  which  is  generally  to  be  found  bound  up  with  the  Recueil  de 
diverses  pieces  servans  d  Vhistoire  de  Henry  III,  published  at  Cologne 
[Brussels]  in  1660. 

The  latest  suggestion  as  to  the  authorship  is  that  of  M.  Clement 
in  his  Henri  Estienne  et  son  ceuvre  franfaise,  1899.  He  thinks  that 
the  joint  authors  were  Innocent  Gentillet,  the  author  of  the  Anti- 
Machiavel,  and  Estienne,  the  latter's  special  contribution  being  the 
prologue  and  the  more  satirical  parts.  I  have  already  stated  the 
fatal  objections  to  Estienne's  authorship,  and  they  are  hardly  lessened 
by  supposing  that  he  had  a  partner.  In  supporting  Gentillet's  claim 
M.  Cle'ment  lays  stress  on  the  sententious  couplets,  pointing  out  that 
similar  ones  occur  in  the  Anti-Machiavel,  but  this  argument  will  not 
avail  against  the  fact  that  whereas  Gentillet  in  the  Anli-MacAiavel 
correctly  speaks  of  the  favourite  of  Brunhild  as  Protadius,  the  author 
of  the  Discours  merveilleux  calls  him  Proclaide1. 

M.  Weiss,  in  reviewing  Clement's  book  {Bull.  Prot.  fran$ais  xlix.), 
while  rejecting  his  view  as  to  the  authorship,  suggests  La  Planche 
or  Hotman.  But  the  style  of  La  Planche  is  more  distinctly  archaic 
than  that  of  the  Discours,  while  the  mistake  as  to  the  name  of 
Brunhild's  favourite  precludes  a  competent  historian  like  Hotman, 
who,  in  fact,  gives  the  name  correctly  in  the  Franco-gallia.  More- 
over, in  1574  he  was  engaged  in  writing  the  De  furoribics  gallicis. 

1  The  name  Proclaide  is  doubtless  derived  from  the  Grandes  chroniques  or 
Annates  de  France  in  some  form  or  other.  It  appears  in  Belleforest,  whose 
arrangement  of  the  Grandes  chroniques  appeared  in  1573,  and  to  whom  the 
author  of  the  Discours  merveilleux  refers  as  Un  certain  brouillou  nomme  Belle- 
forest.  Du  Haillan,  who  relied  on  Paulus  Aemilius  more  than  on  the  Grandes 
chroniques,  gives  the  name  as  Protade  or  Proclade. 


APPENDIX    F. 

The  genesis  of  the  Satire  M£nipp£e. 

I.     BibliograpJiy  of  the  more  important  early  editions. 

i.  La  vertv  dv  Catholicon  d'Espagne:  Auec  vn  Abrege  de 
la  tenue  des  Estats  de  Paris  convoquez  au  X  de  Febvrier  1593  par  les 
chefs  de  la  Ligue,  tire  des  memoires  de  Mademoiselle  de  la  Lande, 
alias  la  Bayonnoise,  et  des  secrettes  confabulations  d'elle  et  du  pere 
Commelaid.     m.d.  xciiii. 

Collation,  A4 — Y4 ;  88  11.,  all  numbered  except  the  title-page; 
on  1.  2  v°.  is  a  woodcut  of  a  charlatan  playing  on  a  lute. 

Contains  at  the  end  seventeen  pieces  of  verse. 

Bib.  Nat. 

This  is  the  only  edition  numbered  by  leaves  instead  of  pages, 
and  the  only  one  which  contains  no  more  than  seventeen  pieces  of 
verse.     Read's  text  follows  this  edition. 

2.  Satyre  Menippee  de  la  vertu  du  Catholicon  d'Espagne  et 
de  la  tenue  des  Estatz  de  Paris,  1594. 

Collation,  A — P8 ;  240  pp.  (numbering  cut  away). 
Contains  forty  pieces  of  verse,  but  not  the  As  tie  ligueur  nor  the 
Deuxieme  advis.    The  passage  relating  to  Villeroy  is  unaltered. 
Brit.  Mus. 

3.  Satyre  Menippee  de  la  vertu  du  Catholicon  d'Espagne  et 
de  la  tenue  des  Estatz  de  Paris.  A  laquelle  est  adiouste  un 
Discours  sur  l'interpretation  du  mot  de  Higuiero  d'Infierno,  &c.  qui  en 
est  l'Autheur.  Plus  le  regret  sur  la  mort  de  l'Asne  Ligueur  d'une 
Damoyselle  qui  mourut  durant  le  siege  de  Paris,     m.d.  xciiii. 

Collation,  a8;  8  11.  not  numbered:  A— Rs ;  272  pp.   numbered 
1—256,  259—274. 
Badly  printed. 
Brit.  Mus.  (Grenville  Library) ;  Bib.  Nat. 


330 


APPENDIX    F 


Contains  forty  pieces  of  verse  besides  the  Asne  ligueur,  and  at 
the  end  the  Deuxibne  advis.  The  passage  relating  to  Villeroy  is 
altered.  The  text  of  Tricotei's  edition,  2  vols.  1877— 1884,  is 
printed  from  this. 

Frank's  text  follows  an  edition  of  which  there  is  a  copy  in  the 
Imperial  Library  at  Vienna.  It  is  dated  1594,  and  has  196  pp. ;  it 
contains  forty  pieces  of  verse,  but  is  without  the  Deuxieme  advis. 

The  editions  bearing  the  date  of  1593,  such  as  that  in  the 
Bib.  Mazarine  of  255  pp.,  and  that  in  the  Brit.  Mus.  of  414  pp., 
really  belong  to  1594- 

2.      The  primitive  text. 

Constant  Leber,  a  competent  and  distinguished  bibliophil  who 
died  in  1807,  declared  that  he  had  seen  a  thin  pamphlet  of  fifteen 
leaves  with  the  title  of  La  Vertu  du  Catholicon  d'Espagne,  and  that  it 
was  printed  at  Tours  by  Iamet  Mettayer.  Its  existence,  however, 
is  otherwise  unknown.  (See  Read,  Le  texte  primiiif,  p.  xxv.)  Similarly 
Dom  d'Argonne  (1634 — 1704).  a  Carthusian,  says  in  his  A/elanges 
dhistoire  et  de  litterature,  which  he  published  in  1702  under  the 
pseudonym  of  Vigneul  de  Marville,  that  Le  Roy  wrote  and  had 
printed  in  1593  La  Vertu  du  Catholicon  d'Espagne,  that  Gillot, 
Pithou,  &c.  added  to  it  a  second  piece  entitled  Abrege  des  Etats,  &c, 
and  that  the  whole  was  printed  in  1594  under  the  title  of  Satyre 
Menippee.  (Read,  op.  at.  p.  89.)  But  this  testimony  is  late,  and,  in 
the  absence  of  the  printed  text  of  1593,  which  Dom  d'Argonne  does 
not  say  that  he  had  seen,  carries  little  weight.  The  only  form  in 
which  the  primitive  text  has  come  down  to  us  is  that  of  a  manuscript 
in  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale,  entitled  Abbrege  et  L'Ame  des  Estatz 
convoquez  a  Paris  en  fan  1593,  which  contains  the  whole  satire  in  a 
greatly  abridged  form.  This  has  been  printed  by  Read  {Le  texte 
primitif  de  la  Satyre  Menippee,  1878). 

De  Thou,  who  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Pierre  Pithou,  gives  the 
following  account  of  the  satire  : — Ln  ea  post  aulaea  in  Usque  depictas 
ad  rem  accommodatas  imagines  et  tabu/as,  orationes  iocosae  seriae  pari 
festivitate  referuntur.  Scripti  primus  auctor  creditur  sacrificus  quidam 
e  Neustria  terra,  vir  bonus  et  a  factione  summe  alietius,  qui  coram 
Borbonio  cardinali  juniore  quotidie  sacrum  celebrabat.  Sed  cum  is 
tantum  prima  theatri  vestigia  delineasset,  succedens  alius  scenam  perfecte 
struxit  {Hist,  sui  temp.  lib.  cv.  c.  18).  D'Aubigne's  account  runs  as 
follows  : — Mais  ce  qui  les  (les  Estals)  rendit  du  tout  meprisables  furent 
divers  escrits  semez  cotitre  et  entre  eux,  la  plus  excellente  satyre  qui  ait 


APPENDIX   F  331 

parti  de  nostre  temps,  portant  pour  titre  le  Catholicon  d'Espagne  ;  ce 
livre  compose  par  un  ausmonier  du  Cardinal  de  Bourbon,  homme  de 
peu  d'apparcnce  et  de  nom  ;  Rapin,  a  qui  on  I'avoit  attribue,  y  contribua 
quelques  vers  seulement  (Hist.  Univ.,  liv.  xm.  c.  xiii.  ed.  Ruble  vm. 
244).  The  reference  to  the  Estates  shews  that  D'Aubigne  must  be 
referring  to  the  primitive  version  of  the  satire,  which  appeared  in 
March  or  April,  1593,  but  though  he  calls  it  le  Catholicon,  he  does 
not  necessarily  mean  that  this  was  the  original  title.  It  has  been 
objected  with  regard  to  his  last  remark  that  there  are  no  verses  in 
the  existing  manuscript,  but  we  do  not  know  that  all  the  manuscript 
copies  were  identical,  and  there  may  have  been  others  which  contained 
verses.  Both  De  Thou's  and  D'Aubigne's  remarks  alike  point  to 
the  fact  that  the  satire  in  its  original  form  was  the  work  of  Le  Roy. 
But  there  is  nothing  in  either  of  their  statements  to  contradict  the 
testimony  of  Pierre  Dupuy  and  the  generally  accepted  tradition  that 
the  satire  in  its  final  shape  was  due  to  several  hands.  De  Thou's 
use  of  the  singular  (succedens  alius)  is  a  familiar  Latin  idiom  which 
does  not  exclude  a  plurality  of  persons. 

On  the  evidence  before  us,  and  having  regard  to  the  weight  of 
De  Thou's  testimony  as  the  intimate  friend  of  Pierre  Pithou,  I  believe 
that  Le  Roy's  work  is  represented  substantially,  if  not  literally,  by 
the  manuscript  printed  by  Read.  To  suppose  that  Le  Roy  only 
wrote  the  first  part,  La  vertu  du  Catholicon,  is  to  lay  a  wrong  stress 
on  D'Aubigne's  words.  They  do  not  imply  that  the  original  title 
was  Le  Catholicon  d'Espagne,  nor  was  this  a  title  which,  so  far  as 
we  know,  the  satire  ever  bore,  except  perhaps  in  popular  speech. 
With  regard  to  the  printed  pamphlet  which  Leber  says  that  he  saw, 
his  attainments  and  bibliographical  experience  entitle  him  to  belief, 
but  his  statement  that  it  was  printed  at  Tours  by  Iamet  Mettayer  is 
doubtless  only  an  inference.  It  is  of  course  possible  that  Mettayer 
may  have  begun  by  printing  separately  the  first  part  of  the  satire, 
La  vertu  du  Catholicon,  though,  as  Read  points  out,  it  is  somewhat 
strange  that  he  should  have  said  nothing  about  it  either  in  his 
Premier  or  his  Deuxieme  advis.  It  is  much  more  likely  that  whatever 
the  original  pamphlet  was  it  was  printed  by  some  other  printer. 

But  whatever  may  be  the  truth  about  the  primitive  text  of  the 
Mmippee,  the  important  fact  remains  that  it  began  to  circulate,  at 
any  rate  in  manuscript,  as  early  as  April,  1593.  M.  Unmet  1 
statements  that  "it  appeared  in  1594,"  and  that  it  was  published 
"  nine  months  after  the  conversion  and  three  months  after  the  entry 
of  Henry  IV  into  Paris,"  are  based  on  the  erroneous  idea  that 
"appearance"  and  "publication"  necessarily  imply  printing. 


APPENDIX    G. 
On  some  biographical  and  bibliographical  works. 

i.  Andre  Thevet,  Portraits  et  vies  des  hommes  illustres, 
2  vols,  fo.,  Paris,   1584. 

Andre  Thevet  (1502 — 1590)  was  a  Franciscan,  who  devoted 
several  years  of  his  life  to  travelling.  He  accompanied  Villegagnon 
on  his  celebrated  expedition  to  Brazil,  but  fell  ill  immediately  after 
getting  there,  and  as  soon  as  he  was  well  enough  to  travel  returned 
to  France.  After  his  return  he  became  almoner  to  Catharine 
de'  Medici,  and  historiographer  and  cosmographer  to  Charles  IX. 
His  work  is  of  little  value  except  for  the  lives  of  those  with  whom 
he  was  personally  acquainted.  Some  of  the  woodcuts  are  excellent. 
Pierre  de  l'Estoile,  in  recording  Thevet's  death,  speaks  of  him  as 
insigne  i?ienteur  et  fort  ignorant  (Journal,  v.  61).  See  Niceron, 
Memoires  xxxm. 

2.  La  Bibliotheque  d'Antoine  du  Verdier.  Lyons,  1585  (printing 
finished  December  15,  1584). 

Premier  volume  de  la  Bibliotheque  du  sieur  de  la  Croix  du  Maine. 
Paris,  1584. 

Antoine  du  Verdier  (1544 — i6co),  a  rich  man  with  a  fine 
library,  who  had  houses  at  Lyons  and  elsewhere  in  that  part  of 
France,  and  Francois  Crude,  sieur  de  la  Croix  du  Maine 
(1552 — 1592),  conceived  independently  the  design  of  making  a 
catalogue  raisonne  of  French  writers,  but  they  had  evidently  commu- 
nicated with  each  other  before  their  works  appeared.  In  1772-3 
Rigoley  de  Juvigny  published  an  edition  of  the  two  bibliographies, 
with  notes  by  La  Monnoye  and  others :  Les  Bibliotheques  franfoises 
de  La  Croix  du  Maine  et  de  Du  Verdier,  6  vols.,  of  which  the  first 
two  volumes  contain  La  Croix  du  Maine's  bibliography,  and  the 
remaining  four  that  of  Du  Verdier.  For  the  more  obscure  writers 
of  the  sixteenth  century  the  notices  are  of  great  value,  but  the 
biographical  dates  are  not  always  to  be  relied  on. 

See  Niceron,  Memoires  xxiv. 


APPENDIX    G  333 

3.  Virorum  doctrina  illustrium,  qui  hoc  seculo  in  Gallia 
floruerunt  elogia,   Poitiers,   1598;    Gallorum  doctrina    illustrium  qui 

nostra  patrumque  memoria  floruerunt  elogia.     Recens  aucta  et  in  duos 
divisa  libros,  ib.  1602  ;  aucta  denuo  et  recognita,  Paris,  1630. 

The  author  of  this  work,  Scevole  de  Sainte-Marthe  (Sammar- 
thanus),  has  already  been  noticed  in  these  pages.  (See  ante,  pp.  23, 
24.)  He  was  born  in  1536,  and  died  in  1623.  His  elogia,  as  their 
name  implies,  are  panegyrics  and  not  biographies,  and  give  very 
little  information.  The  first  edition,  in  one  book,  contains  sixty-six 
elogia,  the  last  being  that  of  Florent  Chrestien,  who  died  in  1596. 
The  final  edition,  in  five  books,  contains  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
elogia,  the  last  being  that  of  Estienne  Pasquier,  who  died  in  16 15. 
A  life  of  Sainte-Marthe  is  prefixed  to  a  translation  of  the  Pazdotrophia 
into  English  verse  by  H.  W.  Tytler,  M.D.,  1757. 

4.  Guillaume  Colletet  (1598 — 1659),  Vies  des poetes  franfais. 
The  author,  an  indifferent  poet  who  was  patronised  by  Richelieu, 
left  this  work  in  manuscript,  comprising  about  four  hundred  lives. 
In  the  conflagration  of  the  Louvre  library  by  the  Commune  in  May, 
187 1,  it  was  destroyed,  but  about  half  the  lives  (193),  together  with 
portions  of  others  (^^)  had  either  been  printed  or  copied  in  manu- 
script. Moreover  the  Bibliothcque  Nationale  has  recently  acquired  a 
copy,  more  or  less  imperfect,  of  147  lives,  which  was  probably  made 
for  Aime-Martin.  I  subjoin  a  list  of  those  lives  which  belong  to  our 
period,  and  have  been  printed.  It  must  be  confessed  that  they 
contain  very  little  information. 

R.  Belleau.  (Euvres,  ed.  Gouverneur,  3  vols.,  1867. 

E.  de  Beaulieu.  ed.  P.  Tamizey  de  Larroque  in  Plaquettes 

Gontaudaises. 
P.  de  Brach.  (Euvres,  ed.  R.  Dezeimeris,  11.  1861. 

L.  de  Carle.  Vies  des  poetes  bordelais,  ed.  T.  de  Larroque, 

,1873. 
J.  Doublet.  Elegies,  ed.  P.  Blanchemain,  1869. 

G.  Salluste  du  Bartas.  Vies  des  poetes  gascons,  ed.  T.  de  Larroque, 

1866. 
G.  du  Faur  de  Pibrac.         ed.  T.  de  Larroque,  187 1. 
Pernette  du  Guillet.  (Euvres,  ed.  Breghot  du  Lut,  1830. 

A.  Jamyn.  (Euvres,  ed.  C.  Bonnet,  1.  1878. 

E.  de  la  Boe'tie.  Vies  des  poetes  bordelais. 

J.  Bastier  de  la  Peruse.      Poetes  angoumoisins,  ed.   E.  Gellibert  des 

Seguins  and  E.  Castaigne,  1863. 
O.  de  Magny.  Demieres poesies,  ed.  E.  Courbet,  1880. 


334 


APPENDIX   G 


C.  Marot.  CEuvres,  ed.  G.  Guiffrey,  187 1. 

Marguerite  de  Navarre.       Poetes  angou?noisins. 

F.  Perrin.  ed.  A.  de  Charmasse,  1887. 

F.  Rabelais.  ed.  Philomneste,  Jun.  (G.  Brunei),  1867. 

N.  Rapin.  Le  Cabinet  historique  for  187 1,  pp.  235 — 257. 

M.  Re^nier.  CEuvres,  ed.  E.  de  Barthelemy,  1862. 

P.  Ronsard.  CEuvres  in e'diles,  ed.  P.  Blanchemain,  1855. 

M.  de  Saint-Gelais.  Poetes  angoumoisins. 

E.  Tabourot.  Rochambeau,     La    famille    de     Ronsart, 

p.   251,    1868. 

J.  Tahureau.  Mignardises   amoureuses,  ed.   P.    Blanche- 

main,    1868. 

Extracts  from  the  lives  of  J.  du  Bellay  and  J. -A.  de  Baif  will  be 
found  in  Rochambeau,  id.  p.  192,  and  from  that  of  Baif  in  Sainte- 
Beuve's  chapter  on  Desportes  in  the  Tableau  de  la  poe'sie  francaise. 

See  T.  de  Larroque,  introduction  to  Vies  des  poetes  gaseous; 
L.  Pannier,  Essai  de  restitution  du  tnanuscrit  de  G.  Colletet,  Rev. 
critique,  1870  (2)  324 — 338;   P.  Bonnefon  in  Rev.  d'hist.  litt.  11. 

5.  Me  moires  pour  servir  a  I'histoire  des  hommes  illustres  dans 
la  republique  des  lettres,  avec  le  catalogue  raisonne  de  leurs  ouvrages, 
43  vols.,   1729— 1745. 

Jean-Pierre  Niceron,  a  Barnabite  father,  was  born  in  1685, 
and  died  in  1738.  After  serving  as  professor  of  rhetoric  and  philo- 
sophy, first  at  Loches  and  then  at  Montargis,  he  was  recalled  in 
17 1 6  to  Paris,  where  he  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  literary  researches. 
At  his  death  he  had  published  thirty-nine  volumes  of  his  great  work, 
and  left  materials  for  a  fortieth,  which  was  published  in  1740  under 
the  editorial  care  of  the  abbe  Goujet  and  others,  who  afterwards 
added  three  more  volumes. 

The  names  are  not  arranged  on  any  plan,  but  volumes  x.  XX. 
and  xxx.  each  contain  an  index  to  the  previous  nine  volumes,  while 
from  volume  xxxi.  onwards  there  is  a  general  index  to  all  the 
volumes  published. 

The  account  of  each  writer  is  followed  by  a  full  bibliography  of 
his  works.  Niceron  has  performed  his  task  with,  on  the  whole,  great 
accuracy  and  competence. 

6.  Bibliotheqtte  Francoise  ou  Histoire  de  la  Literature  Fratifoise, 
par  M.  l'abbe  Goujet,  18  vols.,  1740 — 1756. 

Claude-Pierre  Goujet  (1697 — 1767)  was  a  Jesuit  student, 
who  resisted  all  attempts  to  make  him  a  Jesuit.     His  work  is  arranged 


APPENDIX    G  335 

on  the  following  plan  :  i.  deals  with  Language,  n.  with  Rhetoric, 
in.  with  Artes  poeticae,  iv. — viii.  with  Translations,  ix.  to  xvm.  with 
Poetry,  sixteenth  century  poets  being  contained  in  x. — xiv.  For  the 
biography  of  those  poets  who  find  a  place  in  Niceron's  work,  Goujet 
copies  his  predecessor  almost  literally,  though  with  some  additions 
of  his  own,  but  he  replaces  Niceron's  bare  list  of  works  by  citation 
and  some  not  very  valuable  criticism. 

The  whole  canon,  as  it  may  be  called,  of  the  Dictionnaire 
Historique  from  the  first  edition  of  Louis  Moreri's  Grand  Dictiormaire 
Historiqae  in  1674  (1  vol.  fo.)  to  its  last  in  1760  (10  vols.)  is 
admirably  dealt  with  by  R.  C.  Christie  in  his  Selected  Essays  and 
Papers,  pp.  n  — 16.  The  canon  comprises  besides  Moreri  Bayle's 
Dictionary,  first  published  as  a  supplement  to  Moreri,  in  2  vols., 
fo.  1697,  that  of  Chaufepie,  4  vols.,  1750 — 1756,  and  that  of 
Prosper  Marchand,  2  vols.,  fo.  1758-9,  the  two  latter  being  published 
as  supplements  to  Bayle. 


APPENDIX   H. 
Chronological  Table. 

152 1     Le  Violier  des  histoires  romaines. 

1527     Histoire  de  Bayard  (by  Le  loyal  serviteurf. 


1529  Bude's  Commentarii  linguae  graecae. 
Foundation  of  the  royal  professorships. 
Translation  of  the  Celestina. 

Tory's  Champ  fleury. 

1530  First  royal  professors  appointed. 
Lefevre's  Bible. 

Palsgrave's  L'esclarcissement  de  la  langue  francoyse. 

1 53 1  Le  Parangon  des  nouvelles  honnestes  et  delectables. 

1532  Marot's  Adolescence  Cle??ientine. 
Pantagruel2. 

Alamanni's  Opere  Toscane,  published  at  Lyons  (completed  in 

1533); 

1533  New  edition  of  Pantagruel. 

1534  Marot's  Suite  de  P Adolescence. 
Gargantua  ;  new  edition  of  Pantagruel. 

1535  The  Bible  of  P.-R.  Olivetan  (Protestant  Bible). 
New  edition  of  Gargantua. 

I53^     Quarrel  between  Marot  and  Sagon. 
Calvin's  Institutio. 

1537  Translation  of  the  Cortegiano. 

1538  New  edition  of  Marot's  poems. 
Des  Periers's  Cymbalum  Mundi. 

1539  Edict  of  Villers-Cotterets. 

1540  Death  of  Bude. 

First  Book  of  Amadis  de  Gaule. 

1  There  was  possibly  an  earlier  edition  in  1524. 

2  Probably  published  at  the  end  of  this  year. 


APPENDIX    H  337 

1541  Calvin's   Institution  de  la    religion    Chrestienne  (first   French 

edition). 

1542  Dolet's  translation  of  Cicero's  Letters. 
Heroet's  La  par/aide  amye. 

New  edition  of  Pantagruel  and  Gargantua. 

1543  Prose  translation  of  the  Orlando  Furioso  (by  Jean  Martin?). 
Ch.  Estienne's  translation  of  Gli  higannati. 

1544  Deaths  of  Marot  and  Des  Periers. 
A  new  edition  of  Marot's  poems. 
Des  Periers's  Recueil. 

Sceve's  Delie. 

1545  Calvin's  Institution  (second  French  edition). 
Le  Macon's  translation  of  the  Decameron. 

A  translation  of  Ariosto's  Snppositi. 

Pare's  Me'thode  de  traicter  les  playes  /aides  par  hacqucbutes. 

1546  Estienne  Dolet  burnt. 
Third  book  of  Pantagruel. 

1547  Les  Marguerites  de  la  Marguerite  des  princesses. 
Peletier's  CEuvres  Poetiques. 
Saint-Gelais's  CEuvres. 

Amyot's  LJ Histoire  sEthiopique. 
Du  Fail's  Propos  rustiques. 

1548  Sibilet's  Art  poetique. 

Fourth  book  of  Pantagruel  (in  1 1  chapters). 
Du  Fail's  Baliverneries. 

1549  Death  of  Margaret  of  Navarre. 

Du  Bellay's  La  deffence  et  illustration  de  la  langue  Francoyse, 
Olive  and  Recueil. 

1550  Ronsard's  Odes. 

T.  de  Beze's  Abraham  Sacrifiant. 

1551 

1552     New  edition  of  the  Third  book  of  Pantagruel. 

Fourth  book  of  Pantagruel  (complete). 

Ronsard's  Amours. 

Baif's  Amours. 

Performance  of  Jodelle's  Cleopatre  (?)  and  Eugene. 
J553     Death  of  Rabelais  (or  1554). 

Magny's  Les  Amours. 
J554     Magny's  Les  Gayeth. 

Tahureau's  Poems. 

Rabutin's  Commentaires. 
1555     Death  of  Tahureau. 

T.  II.  -- 


$$8  APPENDIX    H 

Ronsard's  Hy nines  and  "  Amours  de  Marie.'" 
Louise  Labe's  (Euvres. 

Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye's  Forestries  (books  i.,  ii.). 
Ramus's  Dialectique. 

1556 

1557  Magny's  Les  Soupirs. 
La  Peruse's  Medee. 

1558  Death  of  Saint-Gelais. 

Les  nouvelles  recreations  et  joyeux  devis. 
Du  Bellay's  Les  Regrets. 

1559  Amyot's    translation    of    Plutarch's    Lives   and    of    Longus's 

Pastoral  of  Daphnis  and  Chloe. 
Du  Bellay's  Le  poete  courtisan. 
Magny's  Les  Odes. 

1560  Death  of  Joachim  du  Bellay. 

Ronsard's  (Euvres,  4  vols,  (first  collected  edition). 
Pasquier's  Recherches  de  la  France,  book  i. 
The  ''  Tigre"  (attributed  to  Hotman). 

1561  Death  of  Magny. 
Grevin's  Theatre. 
Scaliger's  Poetice. 

1562  L'is/e  sonnante. 

Ronsard's  Discours  des  miseres  de  ce  temps. 

1563  Death  of  La  Boetie. 
Palissy's  Recepte  veritable. 

1564  Death  of  Calvin. 

Fifth  book  of  Fantagruel. 

1565  Ronsard's  Abrege  de  Part poctique  franfois  and  Elegies. 
La  Place's  Commentaires. 

Pasquier's  Recherches,  books  i.,  ii. 
"  Le  Livre  des  MarchanJs." 

1566  Death  of  Louise  Labe. 

Henri  Estienne's  Apologie pour  Herodote. 
Performance  of  Filleul's  Les  Ombres. 

1567  Ronsard's  (Euvres,  6  vols. 
Performance  of  Baif's  Le  Brave. 

1568  Garnier's  Porcie. 

1569  Du  Bellay's  (Euvres. 

Scevole  de  Sainte-Marthe's  Premieres  ceuvres. 

1570  Death  of  Gre'vin. 

1571  La  Boetie's  Vers  francais. 
Visit  of  /  Gelosi  to  Paris. 


APPENDIX    H 


339 


1572  Death  of  Ramus. 

Amyot's  translation  of  Plutarch's  Moralia. 

Ronsard's  Franciade. 

Belleau's  Bergerie. 

Baif's  collected  poems  (completed  1573). 

Jean  de  la  Taille's  Saul  le  furieux. 

1573  Death  of  Jodelle. 

Yver's  Le  Printemps  d'  Yver. 

Du  Bartas's  La  Muse  Chrestientie. 

Desportes's  Les  premieres  oeuvres. 

Jean  de  la  Taille's  La  Famine  and  Les  Corrivaux. 

Gamier 's  Hippolyte. 

Belleau's  La  Reconnue. 

Hotman's  Franco- Gallia. 

1574  Pibrac's  Cinquante  quatrains. 
Jodelle's  CEuvres. 
Garnier's  Cor?ielie. 

Ronsard  retires  from  the  Court. 

1575  Jamyn's  CEuvres  poetiques. 

1576  P.  de  Brach's  Poemes. 
Belleau's  Pier  res  precieuses. 
Baif's  Mimes  (book  i.). 

La  Planche's  Histoire  de  V Estat  de  France. 
Bodin's  Les  Six  livres  de  la  republique. 
Du  Haillan's  Histoire  de  France. 

1577  Death  of  Belleau. 

Second  visit  of  /  Gelosi  to  Paris. 

1578  Du  Bartas's  La  Semaine. 
Ronsard's  CEuvres,  5  vols. 

Henri  Estienne's  Deux  dialogues  du  nouveau  francois  Italianize. 
Garnier's  Marc  Antoine. 
Translation  of  Montemor's  Diana. 
New  translation  of  the  Celestina. 

1579  Larivey's  Six  premieres  comedies. 
Garnier's  La  Troade. 

Fauchet's  Recueil  des  antiquiiez  Gauloises. 
Vindicice  contra  tyrannos1. 

1580  Palissy's  Discours  admirables. 
Montaigne's  Essays  (two  books). 
Garnier's  Antigone. 

1581  Fauchet's  Recueil  de  I'origine  de  la  langue  et poesie  franfoise. 

1  'Written  almost  certainly  in   1574. 


340  APPENDIX   H 

La  Popeliniere's  Histoire  de  France. 
Mornay's  De  la  verite  de  la  religion  chrestienne. 

1582  Death  of  Odet  de  Turnebe. 

Second  edition  of  Montaigne's  Essays. 
Garni  er's  Bradamante. 

1583  Rapin's  Les  plaisirs  du  gentilhomme  chamfietre. 
Pibrac's  Les  quatrains  (complete). 

Gamier' s  Les  Juives. 

1584  Death  of  Pibrac. 

Du  Bartas's  La  Seconde  Semaine. 
Odet  de  Turnebe's  Les  Contents. 
Bouchet's  Les  Sere'es  (first  book). 
Ronsard's  CEuvres,  1  vol.  fo. 
Translation  of  Tasso's  Aminta. 

1585  Death  of  Ronsard  (December  27). 
Garnier's  Tragedies. 

Du  Fail's  Les  contes  et  discours  d'Eutrapel. 
Cholieres's  Les  Neuf  Matinees. 

1586  Pasquier's  Letters  (ten  books). 

1587  Cholieres's  Les  Apres  disnees. 

La  Noue's  Discours  politiques  et  militaires. 

1588  Fifth  edition  of  Montaigne's  Essays   (first  edition  in   three 

books). 
N.  de  Montreux's  Les  bergeries  de  Juliette  (first  French  pastoral 
novel). 

1589  Death  of  Baif. 

1590  Deaths  of  Montaigne,  Pare,  Palissy,  and  Du  Bartas. 

1591  Deaths  of  La  Noue  and  Noel  du  Fail. 

1592  Monluc's  Co??unentaire. 

1593  Translation  of  Guarini's  LI  Pastor  Jido. 
Charron's  Les  trois  veritis. 

1594  Durand's  CEuvres  poetiques. 
La  Satire  Minippie. 

1595  Posthumous  edition  of  Montaigne's  Essays. 
Du  Vair's  De  r eloquence  francoise. 

1596  Deaths  of  Bodin  and  P.  Pithou. 
Pasquier's  Eec/ierches,  books  i. — vi. 
Performance  of  N.  de  Montreux's  L 'Arimcne. 

1597  Passerat's  Le  pret?iier  livre  des  poemes. 

1598  Death  of  Henri  Estienne. 

Guy  de  Tours's  Premieres  aiuvres  poetiques. 
1599 


APPENDIX    H  34I 

1600  Death  of  Gamier. 

0.  de  Serres's  Theatre  d 'Agriculture. 

1601  Montchrestien's  Tragedies. 
Bertaut's  CEuvres  poetiques. 
Charron's  De  la  sagesse. 

1602  Death  of  Passerat. 
Bertaut's  Vers  amoureux. 

1603  Death  of  Charron. 

1604  First  part  of  De  Thou's  History. 
Second  edition  of  Charron's  De  la  sagesse. 

1605  Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye's  Diverses  poesies. 

1606  Death  of  Desportes. 

1607  Death  of  Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye. 

1608  Regnier's  Satires  (i — ix,  xii). 

1609  „  „         (i— xii). 

A  few  of  the  works  noticed  in  this  history  were  not  published  till 
after  the  death  of  HenrylV  (1610),  notably  D'Aubigne's  Les  Tragiques, 
Histoire  Universelle,  and  Aventures  de  Fceneste,  which  appeared  from 
1616  to  1630;  his  Confession  de  Sancy,  published  in  1660;  and  his 
Vie  a  ses  enfants,  which  did  not  see  the  light  till  the  next  century. 
Regnier's  Macette  appeared  in  161 2,  and  Satires  xiv — xvii  in  161 3. 
Very  few  of  the  memoirs  of  our  period  were  printed  before  that 
period  was  over.  Thus  Margaret  de  Valois's  memoirs  appeared  in 
1628,  Sully's  in  1638,  Brantome's  in  1665-66,  and  L'Estoile'sy<w;>7/<// 
(except  for  a  short  extract  published  in  162 1)  not  till  the  eighteenth 
century. 

At  the  death  of  Henry  IV  the  following  sixteenth  century  writers 
were  still  living,  viz.  :  Bertaut,  L'Estoile,  Larivey,  Regnier,  Brantdme, 
Pasquier,  Du  Perron,  Olivier  de  Serres,  all  of  whom  died  before 
1620;  Du  Vair  and  Montchrestien,  who  died  in  1621;  Scevole  de 
Sainte-Marthe,  who  died  in  1623  ;  D'Aubigne  and  Jean  de  la  Taille, 
who  died  in  1630;  and  Sully,  who  lived  till  1641.  Some  of  these, 
however,  namely,  Brantome,  L'Estoile,  and  Sully,  published  nothing 
in  their  lifetime,  while  all  the  others,  except  Regnier  and  D'Aubigne, 
had  practically  ended  their  literary  career  before  the  close  of  our 
period. 


INDEX 


/Esop,  versions  and  translations  of,  i  40 

Agrippa,  Cornelius,  resident  at  Lyons, 
i  24  ;  writes  there  his  De  incertitudine 
et  vanitate  scientiarum,  ib.  and  ii  169 ; 
the  original  of  Rabelais's  HerrTrippa, 
i  187;  Rabelais's  debt  to,  198 

Alaigre,  Antoine,  translates  Guevara's 
Menosprecio  de  la  Corte,  i  50 

Alamanni,Luigi,  patronised  by  Francis  I, 
i  6;  his  poems  published  in  France, 
43*  3!7!  contents  of  his  Opere 
Toscane,  317 ;  influence  on  the  Pleiad, 
ib. ;  his  Satires,  ii  293;  plagiarised 
by  Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye,  65 

Albret,  Henri  d\  King  of  Navarre,  i  101, 
107 

Alciati,  Andrea,  jurist,  patronised  by 
Francis  I,  i  6;  a  popular  emblem 
writer,  n;  comes  to  Bourges,  22; 
his  lectures  there  attended  by  P.  Du 
Chastel,  20,  Calvin,  225,  and  pro- 
bably Rabelais,   168,    204 

Alencon,  Charles,  Duke  of,   i   101 

Hercule-Francois,  Duke  of  (after- 
wards Duke  of  Anjou),  his  death, 
ii   146 

Alexandrines,  Ronsard's  use  of,  i  337— 
8;   Bertaut's  preference  for,  ii  269 

Alione,  J.  G.  of  Asti,  his  French  poetry, 
i  54  n.  1 

Amadis  de  Gaula,  i  158-9 

Amadis  de  Gaule  (French  translation  of 
the  above),  its  popularity,  i  10,  1 59— 
163;  La  Noue's  remarks  on,  ii  201 

Amboise,  Francois  d',his  Ne'apolitaines, 
ii  112 

— —  Michel  d',  Vesclave  fortune,  in; 
his  translation  of  the  eclogues  of 
Baptista  Mantuanus,    79 

Amy,  Pierre  (or  Lamy),  friend  of 
Rabelais,  i  166;  his  correspondence 
with  Bude,   167 

Amyot,  Jacques,  his  birth  and  education, 
i  281 ;  appointed  tutor  to  the  nephews 
of  Jacques  Colin,   ib.,  and  professor 


in  the  University  of  Bourges,  282  ; 
publishes  a  translation  of  the  Story 
of  ALthiopia,  ib. ;  made  abbot  of 
Bellozane,  ib.;  in  Italy,  ib. ;  re- 
discovers five  books  of  Diodorus, 
ib. ;  sent  to  the  Council  of  Trent, 
ib. ;  appointed  tutor  to  the  future 
Charles  IX  and  Henry  III,  ib.  ; 
publishes  his  translation  of  Plutarch's 
Lives,  ib. ;  and  of  Daphnis  and  Chloe, 
ib.;  appointed  Grand  Almoner,  ib.  ; 
pub.  his  translation  of  Plutarch's 
Moralia,  283 ;  made  bishop  of 
Auxerre,  ib. ;  his  excellent  admini- 
stration of  his  diocese,  ib. ;  his 
troubles  during  the  last  five  years  of 
his  life,  ib. ;  his  death,  ib. ;  his  trans- 
lation of  Plutarch,  283-287;  his 
other  translations,  287 ;  his  style, 
288;  his  Projet  de  V eloquence  royale, 
289;  his  services  to  French  prose, 
ii  321 ;  and  see  319 

' '  Anacreon, "  influence  of  on  the  Pleiad, 
i  330-1 ;  Belleau's  translation  of,  ii  3 

Aneau,  Barthelemi,  his  translation  of 
book  iii  of  Ovid's  Metamorphoses, 
i  38;  author  of  Le  Quintil  Horatian, 
315;  other  works  by  him,  316  n.  1  ; 
his  death,   ib. 

Angier,  Paul,  his  poem  in  defence  of 
L'Amie  de  Court,  i  86 

Appian,  translation  of,  i  36 

Arande,  Michel  d',  almoner  to  Margaret 
of  Navarre,  i  102  ;  and  see  225 

Aretino,  Pietro,  his  Cortigiana,  and  his 
Ragionamcnti ,  ii  301 

Ariosto,  his  Orlando  Furioso,  i  47  : 
translated  into  French  prose,  48;  into 
verse,  ib. ;  influence  of  his  comedies, 
ib.;  translations  (if,  ib.;  character  of 
his  comedies,  ii  102, 103 ;  his  influence 
on  Du  Bellay,  i  343,  34":  Rabelais's 
debt  to,  198;  his  satires,  ii  393  4 ; 
and   see  i    tp8,   ii    113 

Aristotle,  mediaeval  translations  of,  i  .',7 ; 


344 


INDEX 


Le  Roy's  translation  of  his  Politics, 
290;  Latin  translation  and  first  French 
edition  of  his  Poetics,  ii  82  n.  2  ;  his 
remarks  on  the  unities,  ib. ;  Bodin 
compared  with,  224;  Bodin's  relation 
to,   225 

Armagnac,  Georges  d',  Cardinal,  pre- 
sents Francis  I  with  twenty-four 
volumes  of  Greek  mss.,  i  18;  his 
relations  with  Rabelais,   182 

Arnaud,  Antoine,  his  pamphlets,  ii  232, 
2^3;  his  speech  against  the  Jesuits, 

2'83 

Aubigne,  Theodore  Agrippa,  his  versa- 
tility, ii  244;  his  Vie  a  ses  enfants, 
244-245,  248;  his  birth  and  educa- 
tion, 245;  enters  the  service  of  Henry 
of  Navarre,  246 ;  his  relations  with 
his  leader,  ib. ;  retires  to  Maillezais, 
ib. ;  flight  to  Geneva,  247 ;  publishes 
his  writings,  ib.;  death,  id.;  his 
Histoire  Universelle,  248-251  ;  his 
Confession  de  Sancy,  251-252;  his 
Aventures  du  baron  de  Fccneste,  252; 
his  powers  as  a  raconteur,  253;  his 
letters,  ib.  ;  his  prose  style,  254-256; 
his  early  poetry,  256-258;  his  epic, 
La  Creation,  a  failure,  258  ;  Les 
Tragiques,  258-261;  and  see  315, 
316,   321,  323,  326 

Aurigny,  Gilles  d\  his  poetry,  i  87 

Auton,  Jean  d',  i  53,  60 

Bachet  de  Meziriac,  his  criticisms  of 
Amyot's  Plutarch,  i  284 

Baduel,  Claude,  first  rector  of  the 
University  of  Nismes,  i  21 

Baif,  Jean- Antoine  de,  translates  Ariosto, 
i  48;  pupil  of  Dorat,  309;  his 
education,  ii  5;  his  Amours,  6;  his 
poem,  Du  printetnps,  ib. ;  his  trans- 
lations, 7 ;  his  Mimes,  ib. ;  his  ex- 
periments in  language  and  metre,  8; 
founds  the  Academic  de  poisie  et  de 
musit/ue,  9;  his  death  and  general 
characteristics,  10;  his  residence  at 
Poitiers,  19;  his  Le  Brave,  188 

Lazare  de,  father  of  the  preceding, 

scholar  and  diplomatist,  i  20;  his 
translations  of  the  Hecuba  and  of  the 
Electra  of  Sophocles,  37;  his  mission 
to  Hagenau,  309 

Bandello,  Matteo,  bishop  of  Agen, 
patronised  by  Francis  I,  i  6;  his 
Novelle,   105,   112,   ii   181 

Banville,  Theodore  de,  his  opinion  of 
Marot  as  a  metrist,   i  80 

Basoche,  the,  i  56,  58;  its  decline,  ii  71 

Bassecourt,  Claude  de,  his  pastoral 
tragi-comedy,   ii   117 


Baude,  Henri,  his  poetry,  i  57;  Marot's 

debt  to,  ib. 
Baudouin,  Francois,  jurist,  i  280,  294, 

299 
Baudouin  de  Flaiidres,  i   157 
Beaulieu,   Eustorg  de,  his  poems  and 

religious  songs,  i  90 
Beaune,      Jacques      de,      baron      de 

Semblancay,  Marot's  elegy  on,  i  63, 

and  epigram  on,  75 
Beccari,  Agostino,  his  //  Sacrifizio,  the 

first  Italian  pastoral  drama,  ii  115 
Beda,  Noel,  principal  of  the  college  of 

Montaigu,  i  16;  his  opposition  to  the 

royal  professorships,  ib.;  accuses  the 

King  and  Queen  of  Navarre  of  heresy, 

65;  imprisoned,  172;  and  see  225 
Belleau,    Remy,    characteristics    of  his 

poetry,     ii     2 ;     his     translation     of 

"  Anacreon,"  3;  his  Bergerie,  ib.;  his 

Avril,  ib.;  his  Pierre s  pre'eieuses,  4,  5  ; 

acts  in  Jodelle's  plays,  72 ;  his  comedy, 

La  Reconnue,  107 
Belleforest,     Francois      de,     translates 

Bandello's  Novelle,  ii  181 
Belloy,   Pierre  de,  pamphleteer,  ii  232 
Bembo,    Pietro,     dictator     of    Italian 

literature,    i    47;    his    admiration    of 

Petrarch,   ib. ;  his  Gli  Asolani,   137; 

a    speaker    in    the    Cortegiano,    ib. ; 

translation   of  his    Gli  Asolani,   49; 

his  Latin  poetry,    147 
Berauld,  Nicolas,  Greek  scholar,  i  20; 

tutor  to  the  Chatillon  brothers,   ib.; 

present  at  a  dinner  to  Dolet,  25 
Berenger,  Louis  de,  seigneur  du  Guast, 

ii  192,  197 
Bergaigne,   Francois,  his  translation  of 

the  Paradiso,  i  45,  46  n.  3 
Berni,  Francesco,  his  influence  on  Du 

Bellay,  i  343,  346;  Rabelais's  debt  to, 

198;    his   Burlesques    or    Capitoli,   ii 

294;  imitated  by  Regnier,  299 
Beroalde  de  Verville,  Francois,  his  Le 

moyen  de  parvenir,  ii   188 
Berquin,  Louis,  burnt  for  heresy,  i  8 
Bersuire,     Pierre,     his    paraphrase     of 

Ovid's     Metamorphoses,    i     37 ;     his 

translation  of  Livy,   39 
Bertaut.    Jean,    Bishop    of    Seez,    his 

employment    at    Court,    ii    265 ;    his 

official    poetry,    266,    268 ;    his   love 

poetry,    267-268;    his    later    poetry, 

269;  his  general  characteristics,  269- 

270;  influence  of  Tasso  upon,  270 
Bertaut  de  la  Grise,  Rene,  his  translation 

of  Guevara's  Libro  aureo  de  Marco 

Aurelio,  i  50 
Beze,  Theodore  de  (Beza),  his  Abraham 

sacrifiant,  ii  S6 


INDEX 


345 


Bible,  French  translations  of  the,  i  40- 

43 
Blazons,  i  11,  89,  90,  91 
Blois,  royal  library  at,  i  18  n.  5 ;  moved 

to  Fontainebleau,  18 
Boaisteau,    Pierre,    his    edition    of    the 

Heptatneron,    i   105;    translates  Ban- 

dello's  Novelle,   ii   181 
Boccaccio,  French  translations  of,  i  44- 

45  ;    his    Decameron,    97,    99,    104 ; 

Sceve's  translation  of  his  Fiammetta, 

Bochetel,  his  translation  of  part  of  Ovid, 
i  38 

Bodin,  Jean,  recommends  the  use  of  the 
vernacular  in  lectures,  i  3  r ;  his  Metho- 
dus,  ii  224;  appointed  King's  advo- 
cate at  Laon,  ib. ;  a  deputy  at  the 
Estates  of  Blois,  1576,  ib. ;  his  Six 
livres  de  la  Kepublique,  ib. ;  its  cha- 
racter and  merits,  225  ;  his  defence  of 
monarchy,  226;  his  advocacy  of  reli- 
gious toleration,  227;  his  Colloquium 
Heptaplomeres,  ib. 

Boiardo,  Matteo,  French  translation  of, 
i  46 

Boyssone,  Jean  de,  professor  of  law  at 
Toulouse,  i  22  ;  friend  of  Rabelais, 
ib.  and   182 

Bonivard,  Francois,  his  imprisonment, 
i  24-;;  his  life  at  Geneva,  ib.;  his 
writings,  246-247;  their  style  and 
general  characteristics,  247-249,  254; 
and  see  p.  72 

Bordeaux,  college  of  Guienne  at,  i  21  ; 
an  intellectual  centre,  ii  319 

Bordone,  Paris,  painter,  at  the  French 
court,  i  6 

Boscan,  Juan,  Spanish  poet,  i  52 

Bouchet,  Guillaume,  bookseller,  one  of 
the  literary  circle  at  Poitiers,  ii  18; 
his  Series,  187 

Jean,  his    poetry,    i    53;    his    life 

of  La  Trimouille,  241  ;  a  friend  of 
Rabelais,    167 

Bounin,  Gabriel,  his  La  So/lane,  ii  87 
Bourbon,    Nicolas,    Latin    poet,    i   26; 

deserts  Protestantism,   28  n.  1 
Bourdeilles,     Francois    de,    father    of 

Brantome,  a  devisant  of  the  Hepta- 

t/teron,  i  108 

Pierre  de,  Abbe  de  Brantome,  his 

mention  of  French  princes  and  prin- 
cesses who  spoke  Spanish,  i  5  ;  his 
defence  of  the  Concordat,  ib.,  6;  his 
references  to  the  Heptameron,  i  107 
n.  2,  108;  compared  with  Montaigne, 
ii  190;  his  life,  191 ;  his  writings,  192- 
193;  their  character,  193-197;  and 
see  316,  326 


Bourdigne,  Charles,  his  Legend e  Pierre 
Fai-feu,  i  132,  183 

Bourges,  University  of,  i  20,  22,  168, 
225,   281 

Bourgoin,  Simon,  his  translations  of 
Lucian.  i  36  n. 

Boyvin  du  Yillars,  Francois  de,  his 
memoirs,  ii  2  1 1 

Bozon,  Nicole,  his  Conies  moralises,  i  97 

Brach,  Pierre  de,  his  poetry,  ii  42-43; 
edits  Montaigne's  Essays,  4;;.  155; 
his    translation    of    i  :in/a, 

116 

Brie,  Germain  de  (Germanus   Brixius), 
Greek  scholar,  i  20:  his  Latin  pi 
ib. ;  his  controversy  with  Sir  Thomas 
More,  ib. ;    mentioned    by   Rabelais, 
ib.  n.  1 

Brigade,  the,  i  315 

Brisset,  Roland,  his  La  Dieromenc,  ii 
117;  his  translation  of  Guarini's  // 
pastor  fido,  ib. 

Brodeau,  Jean,  scholar,  i  85  and  note 

Victor,  i  68,  84,  tor;  his  poetry, 

85,  86,  93 

Bromyard,  John,  Cambridge  professor, 
his  collection  of  exempla,  i  96  n.  1 

Buchanan,  George,  his  Latin  plays, 
ii  71;  Montaigne's  pricepteur  domes- 
tiqite,   138 

Bucher,  Germain  Colin,  his  poems,  i  68 

Bude,  Guillaume,  his  remarks  on 
Francis  I,  i  8  ;  his  De  asse  cl  par- 
tibus  ejus,  il>.  14;  his  education, 
ib.  15;  publication  of  his  letters, 
ib. ;  his  Commentarii  linguae  graecae, 
ib.;  urges  the  King  to  establish  a 
royal  college  for  the  study  of  ancient 
languages,  ib.  ;  appointed  master  of 
the  King's  library,  iS;  his  death.  [9; 
little  practised  in  writing  French,  30; 
corresponds  with  P.  Amy  and  Ra- 
belais,   167 

Bullant,  Jean,  architect,  i  276,  :;o 

Burchiello,  II,  Saint-Gelais's  imitation 
of,  i  148;  in  part  the  originator  of 
Burlesque,  ii  2^4 

Burye,  de,  a  devisant  of  the  Hepta- 
meron,  i   ion  . 

Buttet,  Marc-Claude  de,  his  experiments 
in  vers  mesuris,  ii  8;  his  poetry,  21 

Caen,  ii  319;  University  of,  i  2.!,  ii 
r,  tiansl.itii.n~  of, 

Cahors,  i  57 

Callimachus,  Ron  ;".  i  31 1 

Calvin,    |ean 
i  22;  remonstrates  with   Margarel  oi 
Navarre  on   her  relations  with   the 

"Spiritual    libertines,"    io,;,    1:4    and 


346 


INDEX 


n.  3 ;  his  view  of  human  nature  op- 
posed to  Rabelais's,  210;  his  birth, 
224;  his  education  at  Paris,  225; 
studies  law  at  Orleans  and  Bourges, 
id.;  returns  to  Paris  and  publishes  a 
commentary  on  Seneca's  De  dementia, 
226 ;  becomes  a  Protestant,  ib. ;  writes 
the  Latin  oration  for  Nicolas  Cop,  ib. ; 
flight  from  Paris  and  from  France, 
ib. ;  publishes  the  Institution  ib. ; 
at  Geneva,  227  ;  Latin  and  French 
editions  of  the  Institution  Chrestienne, 
ib.  ;  its  plan,  character  and  style, 
228;  citations  from,  228-230;  influence 
of  Latin  on  his  style,  230 ;  his  polemi- 
cal writings,  231-2;  defects  of  his 
style,   233;    and  see  ii  323 

Camillo,  Giulio,  Italian  poet,  i  271 

Canappe,  Jean  de,  a  physician  at  Lyons, 
i  24 

Caporali,  Cesare,  writer  of  Burlesque, 
imitated  by  Regnier,  ii  300 

Cariteo,  imitated  by  Tyard,  ii  1 

Carle,  Lancelot  de,  Bishop  of  Rieux,  a 
writer  of  blazons,  i  89;  his  poetry, 
319;  his  importance  in  the  literary 
world,   ib. 

Caroli,de',orCharles,Geoffroy,  President 
of  Grenoble,  story  relating  to  in  the 
Heptameron,  i   112  and  note 

Castelnau,  Michel  de,  his  memoirs,  ii 
212 

Castelvetro,  Lodovico,  his  view  of  the 
unities,  ii  82 

Castiglione,  Baltassare,  influence  of  his 
Cortegiano,  i  48,  49;  translations  of, 
48,  147;  Rabelais's  debt  to,  198 

Catharine  de  Bourbon,  Duchesse  de  Bar, 
sister  of  Henry  IV,  her  letters,  ii  199 

n-  3 
Catharine  de'  Medici,  see  Medici 
Caturce,  Jean  de,   professor  of   law  at 

Toulouse,   burnt  for  heresy,  i  22 
Cavalli,  Marino,  Venetian  ambassador, 

his  report  of  Francis  I's  conversation, 

i  5  and  note 
Caviceo,  Jacopo,  his  Libro  del  peregrino 

translated,  i  46;    its  woodcuts,   48 
Caxton,   William,    his   version   of    the 

Chevalier  de  la  Tour  Landry's  book, 

i  98  n.  3 
Celestina,  the  ( Calistoy  Melibea),  French 

translation  of,  i  51 ;  borrowings  from 

in    the    Grand    Parangon,    100;    its 

influence    on    les    Contents  and    on 

Regnier's    Macette  doubtful,    ii    112, 

,3QI. 

Cellini,    Benvenuto,  his   relations  with 

Francis  I,  i  4,  5 
Cento  novelle  antiche,  the,  i  97 


Cent  nouvelles  nouvelles,  the,  i  96,  97, 
99,  100,   132 

Chambre  ardente,  the,  i  179,  194 

Champier,  Symphorien,  a  physician  of 
Lyons,  i  24;  helps  to  found  Trinity 
College  at  Lyons,  ib. ;  his  life  of 
Bayard,  241 

Chansons  de  geste,  i  155-157 

Chappuys,  Claude,  Discours  de  la  Court, 
i  48,  90 ;  his  blazons,  89 

Gabriel,  translates  books  xvi-xxi 

of  A  madis  de  Gaule,  i  160;  continues 
the  Grandes  Ckroniques,  ii  223 

Charles  IX,  his  relations  with  Ronsard, 
i  278,  320;  becomes  protector  of 
Baifs  Academy,  ii  9 ;  gives  Desportes 
800  gold  crowns,  46;  Brantome's 
account  of,   193 

Charron,  Pierre,  his  les  trois  verites, 
ii  273;  his  appearance  and  character, 
ib. ;  friendship  with  Montaigne,  274; 
publication  of  la  Sagesse,  ib . ;  his  sud- 
den death,  ib. ;  La  Sagesse  examined, 
275;  First  book,  ib. ;  Second  book, 
276;  Third  book,  277;  character  of 
the  book,  ib. ;  its  influence,  278;  his 
reputation  as  a  preacher,  283 

Chartier,  Alain,  his  services  to  French 
prose,   i  224 

Chastel,  Pierre  du,  chief  adviser  to 
Francis  I  in  literary  matters,  i  20; 
his  education  and  travels,  ib. ;  becomes 
the  King's  reader,  2 1 ;  appointed 
Archdeacon  of  Avignon,  and  Bishop 
of  Macon,  Tulle,  Orleans,  ib. ;  his 
support  of  scholars  and  men  of  letters, 
ib.  ;  his  learning,  ib. 

Chatillon,  Odet  de,  Cardinal,  i  180-1; 
his  patronage  of  literature,  276 

Chinon,  i  165,  166,  178 

Choisnin,  Jean,  his  memoirs,  ii  211 

Cholieres,  N.  de,  his  Les  naif  matinees 
and  Apres  disnees,  ii  186 

Choul,  Guillaume  du,  archaeologist,  i  24 

Chrestien,  Florent,  scholar,  one  of  the 
writers  of  the  Satire  Mcnippce,  ii  234, 
236;  his  attack  on  Ronsard,  i  321 

Cintio,  Giraldi  Giambattista,  his  Or- 
becche,  ii  75 

Clement  VII,  Pope,  i  167,  177 

Clouet,  Francois,  painter,  i  276,  279 

Coligny,  Gaspard  de,  his  account  of  the 
defence  of  St  Quentin,  ii  2 1 1 

Colin,  Jacques,  reader  to  Francis  I, 
his  translation  of  part  of  Ovid,  i  38; 
of  the  Cortegiano,  48 

Jean,  his  translation  of  Herodian, 

i  36  ;   of  certain  works  of  Cicero,  39 

Collerye,  Roger  de,  his  poetry,  i  55; 
his  Blason  des  dames,  9 


INDEX 


347 


Colletet,  GuilLiume,  his  lives  of  French 

poets,  ii  333 
Colonna,     Francesco,    his    Hypneroto- 
machia    Poliphili    translated,    i    46; 
Rabelais's  debt  to,    192-193,   198 

Comines,  Philippe  de,  date  of"  publica- 
tion of  Memoirs,  i  31  n. ;   his  prose 
style,    224 
Commcdia  dell'  arte,  ii   103 
Confreres  de  la  Passion,  the,  ii   70 

Cop,  Nicolas,  i  226 

Coquillart,  Guillaume,  his  poetry,  i  55; 
his  Blasons  des  amies  et  des  dames, 
i  89;  and  see  64,  76,   198 

Corbinelli,  Jacopo,  i  278 

Cordier,  Maturin,  his  devotion  to  the 
reform  of  education  at  the  Paris 
University,  i  17;  his  treatise,  De 
corrupti  sermonis  apud  Gallos  el 
loquendi  latine  ratione,  ib.  ;  goes  to 
Nevers,  it. ;  joins  the  staff  of  the 
college  of  Guienne,  ib.  ;  a  Protestant, 
ib.  n.  2 ;  goes  to  Geneva,  ib. ;  to 
Neuchatel,  18;  returns  to  Geneva, 
ib. ;  death,  ib.;  his  Colloquies,  ib.; 
Calvin  attends  his  classes,   225 

Corneille  de  Lyon,   painter,  i  276 

Corrozet,  Gilles,  his  verse  translation 
of  "  /Esop,"  i  40 ;  oiAurelio  e  Isabelle, 
51;  his  poetry,  91;  his  guide-book 
to  Paris,  ib. ;  his  Conte  du  rossignol, 
138;  his  prose  version  of  Richard 
sans  peur,  157 

Costanzo,  Angelo  di,  imitated  by 
Desportes,  ii  48 

Court,  influence  of  the  on  literature, 
i   12,   277,  ii  318 

Court,  Benoist,   i  24 

Crespin,  Jean,  i  225 

Cretin,  Guillaume,  his  poetry,  i  53, 
60,  79 ;  the  original  of  Rabelais's 
Raminagrobis,   187 

Cronique  du  roi  Francois  1,  i  241 

Cujas,  Jacques,  jurist,  i  280-1,  294,  299 

Dampierre,    Jean    (Dampetrus),    Latin 

poet,  i  26 
Danes,  Pierre,  royal  professor  of  Greek, 

i     16;     an    ultra-Catholic,     26;     his 

lectures    attended    by    Calvin,    226; 

tutor  to  the  Dauphin,  275  ;   and   to 

Henri  Estienne,   291 
Dangu,  Nicolas,  Bishop  of  Seez  and  of 

Mende,  a  devisant  of  the  Heptameron, 

i  109 
Daniel,  Samuel,  his  debt  to  Desportes, 

!i  49  ,    . 

Dante,  French  translations  of,  1  45-46 
Daurat,   see  Dorat 
Delaulne,   Estienne,   engraver,   i   276 


Delbene,   Baccio,  i  278 

Demosthenes,  translation  of  his 
Olynthiacs  and  Philippics  by  Le  Roy, 
i  290;  the  model  of  Du  Yair,  ii   184 

Denisot,  Nicolas,  poet  and  painter,  i 
i45 

Des  Autels,  Guillaume,  writes  an 
imitation  of  Rabelais,  i  190;  his 
answer  to  the  Deffence,  i  316 

Des  Masures,  Louis,  his  verse-trans- 
lation of  the  sEneid,  i  38;  his  trilogy 
of  David,  ii  86 

Des  Periers,  his  translation  of  the  I.vsis 
of  Plato,  i  37,  138;  supports  Marot 
against  Sagon,  68,  94.  101;  author- 
ship of  the  Heptanieron  ascribed  to 
him,  114;  birth  and  early  life,  133; 
his  Protestant  leanings,  ib.;  helps 
Dolet  at  Lyons,  ib.;  enters  the 
service  of  Margaret  of  Navarre,  ii.  ; 
becomes  a  sceptic,  1 24 :  his  Cymbalum 
Mundi,  124-128;  his  suicide,  i:S; 
his  collected  works,  ib.;  his  poems, 
129-130;  his Joyeux  Devis,  130  134, 
191;  his  literary  characteristics,  [34; 
authorship  of  the  Joyeux  Devis  dis- 
cussed, 259-261 ;  his  Queste  (famitie, 
138;  his  rank  as  a  writer,  254;  his 
prose  style,  ib. ;  and  see  ii   323 

Desportes,  Philippe,  translates  Ariosto, 
i  48;  his  resemblance  to  Saint-Gelais, 
151  ;  the  favourite  poet  of  Henry  111, 
278;  his  early  life,  ii  45;  his 
Premieres  (Euvres,  46:  favoured  by 
Henry  III,  ib.  ;  finds  a  patron  in 
Joyeuse,  ib. ;  takes  refuge  with  Villars- 
Brancas,  ib.  ;  negotiates  with  Sully, 
47;  translates  the  1'salms,  ib.\  exer- 
cises hospitality,  it.',  his  plagiarisms, 
ib.;  his  poetry,  48 ;  his  sonnets,  4S  4.9; 
his  songs,  50-51  ;  his  spiritual  sonnets, 
52;  his  debt  to  Montem&r's  Plana, 
ib. ;  general  characteristics  ol  his 
poetry,  ?2-?>,;  his  resemblance  to 
Saint-Gelais,  53;  bis  popularity  in 
England,  53-54;  Regnier's  debts  to, 
293,  304;  and  see  .;  1  1 
Desrey,      Pierre,     his      translation      of 

Gaguin's   Compendium,    i 
Desrosiers,   Claude,    his    translation    of 

Dio  Cassius,  i  36 
Devices  of  printers  on  their  title-pi 

i  l  1 
Dialogue    (Tentre    le   Mahtustrt    et    It 

Manant,   ii  233 
Diane  de  Poitiers,  her  patronage  ol  art, 

i   275  ;    refuses   to   accept    dedications 

from   Ron  ard,  1  319 
Dinteville,    Francoi      de.     Bishop    of 
Auxerre,  diplomatist,  i  7;  is  accom- 


348 


INDEX 


panied  to  Rome  and  Venice  by  Pierre 
du  Chaste],  20 

Dio  Cassius,  translation  of,  i  36 

Diodorus,  translation  of,   i  36 

Discours  merveilleux,  the,  or  Vie  Sainte 
Catharine,  publication  of,  ii  230  ; 
authorship  discussed,  230-231,  327-8 

Dolet,  Estienne,  corrector  to  Gryphius's 
press,  i  24 ;  sets  up  a  press  of  his 
own,  25;  his  Commentaries  on  the 
Latin  tongue,  id. ;  banquet  in  his 
honour,  id.;  burnt,  26;  his  religious 
opinions,  id.  ;  his  treatises  on  trans- 
lating, punctuation  and  accents,  i  33; 
his  translations  of  Plato,  36;  of 
Cicero's  Letters,  39;  revises  J.  Colin's 
translation  of  the  Cortegiano,  48,  70; 
his  poetry,  92-3 ;  his  quarrel  with 
Rabelais,  177;  his  Gestes  de Francoys 
de  Valois,  240;  its  style,  254;  and 
see  126 

Doneau,  Hugues  (Donellus),  jurist, 
i  280.   294 

Dorat,  Jean,  his  name,  i  309  n.  3  ;  his 
work  on  ^Eschylus,  310;  his  teaching, 
id. 

Dorleans,  Louis,  pamphleteer,  ii  232 

Doublet,  Jean,  his  elegies,  ii  21  ;  a 
source  of  Regnier's  Alacette,   300 

Du  Bartas,  Guillaume  de  Salluste,  his 
Judith,  ii  36 ;  his  Uranie,  id.  ;  La 
Semaine,  36-37;  La  seconde  Semaine, 
37  ;  his  employment  by  Henry  of 
Navarre,  id. ;  his  death,  38 ;  charac- 
teristics of  his  poetry,  38-42 ;  and 
see  326 

Du  Bellay,  Eustache,  Bishop  of  Paris, 

i  351 
— -  Guillaume,  Seigneur  de  Langey, 
his  patronage  of  Rabelais,  i  7  ;  his 
view  of  religious  reform,  28  ;  Rabelais 
in  his  service,  177;  his  death,  178; 
his  Ogdoades,  240 

Jean,    Bishop   and    Cardinal,    his 

patronage  of  Rabelais,  i  7  ;  and  of 
art  and  letters,  id.  ;  favours  the 
evangelical  preaching,  27;  takes 
Rabelais  to  Rome,  172,  173,  174, 
179;  appoints  him  to  a  canonry  in 
abbey  of  Saint-Maur  des  Fosses,  176; 
letters  from  Rabelais  and  from  Jean 
Sturm  to,  179;  holds  festivities  at 
Rome,  180;  is  out  of  favour,  id. ; 
appoints  Rabelais  to  the  cure  of 
Meudon,  id.;  takes  his  cousin  Joachim 
to  Rome,  342 ;  his  anger  at  the 
Regrets,   350;    his  death.  351 

Joachim,  passages  from   his  Def 

fence  cited,  i  85,  87,    139,    141;    his 

sonnet  to   Maurice   Sceve,   139;    his 


birth,  310;  his  education,  311;  his 
meeting  with  Peletier,  id. ;  publishes 
the  Deffence,  id.  ;  summary  of  the 
Deffence,  311-313;  its  style,  314;  its 
critics,  315-316;  his  reply,  316;  his 
early  poetry,  339-42;  his  Olive,  340; 
his  popularisation  of  the  sonnet,  34 1 ; 
his  Recueil,  id. ;  goes  to  Rome  with 
Cardinal  du  Bellay,  342;  his  An- 
tiquites  de  Rome,  342-3  ;  his  Regrets, 
343-6;  his  Latin  poems  and  Divers 
jeux  rusiiques,  346-8 ;  his  satirical 
poems,  348-50,  ii  293,  295;  his  con- 
cluding years  and  death,  i  350—  r  ; 
characteristics  of  his  poetry,  351-3; 
Belleau's  Chant  pastoral  on  his  death, 
ii  3  ;    a  true  Latin,  35  ;    see  311,  315, 

32°.  323 
Du  Bellay,  Martin,  his  memoirs,  i  240 

Rene,    Bishop   of   Le   Mans,   his 

garden,   i   7;   a  patron  of  letters,  id. 

Rene,  Baron  de  la  Lande,  edits  the 

Du  Bellay  memoirs,  i  240 

Dubois,  Jacques  (Sylvius),  his  French 
grammar,  i  34;  his  views  on  ortho- 
graphy, id. ;  his  lectures  on  anatomy, 
176 

Du  tail,  Noel,  his  Propos  rastiques  and 
his  Balivemeries,  ii  184-185;  his  Les 
contes  et  discours  cT Eulrapel,  ii  185- 
186  ;  a  spurious  edition  of  his  Propos 
rustiques,  i  194 ;  and  see  323 

Du  Haillan,  Bernard  de  Girard,  his 
history  of  France,   ii  223 

Du  Maine,  Guillaume,  reader  to  Mar- 
garet of  Navarre  and  tutor  to  her 
children,   i    101 

Du  Moulin,  Antoine,  revises  existing 
translations  of  Caesar,  i  39,  101  ; 
becomes  reader  to  Jean  de  Tournes, 
1 2*  and  n.  3  ;  edits  the  works  of  Des 
Periers,  id. ;  and  some  poems  of  Saint- 
Gelais  and  others,    150 

Du  Perron,  Jacques  Davy  (Cardinal), 
attacked  by  D'Aubigne  in  the  Con- 
fession de  Saucy,  ii  251-252  ;  his 
arrival  at  the  Court,  266;  his  poetry, 
270;  his  prose,  271;  his  pulpit 
oratory,   283;   and  see  322 

Du  Plessis-Mornay,  Philippe,  his  letter 
to  Louise  de  Coligny,  ii  164  n.  5; 
author  of  the  Vindiciae  contra  tyran- 
nos,  231  ;  his  controversy  with  Du 
Perron,  271  ;  his  De  la  vhitide  la  re- 
ligion chrestienne,  272;  his  style,  id. 

Mme,  her  memoirs,  ii  212 

Du  Pont,  Gracien,  Seigneur  de  Drusac, 
his  "art  of  poetry,"'  i  69;  his  Contro- 
verses  des  sexes,  id. ;  his  feud  with 
Dolet,   70 


INDEX 


349 


Du  Prat,  Guillaume,  Chancellor  of 
France,   i  46 

Du  Premierfait,  Laurent,  his  translation 
of  the  Decameron,  i  44,  97 

Durant,  Gilles,  his  poetry,  ii  57-58, 
3« 

Du  Tillet,  Jean,  historian,  ii  223 

Du  Yair,  Guillaume,  Charron's  debt  to, 
ii  275,  278:  his  early  career,  279; 
La  sainte  philosophic.  2. So;  La  philo- 
sophic morale  des  Sto'iques,  id. ;  De 
la  Constance  es  calaniitez  publiques, 
id.;  De  P  eloquence  francaise,  281- 
283  ;  his  own  oratory,  284  ;  his  later 
career,  id.;  made  Bishop  of  Lisieux, 
2S5;  his  death,  ib.  ;  his  style,  id.; 
and  see  322 

Duval,  Pierre,  Bishop  of  Seez,  his  trans- 
lation of  the  Crito,  i  36 

Du  Val,  Pierre,  editor  of  Le  Puy  du 
souverain  Amour,  i   139 

Du  Verdier,  Antoine,  his  statement  as 
to  the  authorship  of  the  Isle  Sonnante, 
i  189—190;  his  Bibliotheque,  ii  332 

Duvet,  Jean,  engraver,  i  276,  7 

Ellain,  Nicolas,  his  sonnets,  i  346,  ii 
22 

Emblems,  i   1 1 

Emilio,  Paolo,  his  De  rebus  gestis  Fran- 
co rum,  i  239 

Epictetus,  Enchiridion  of,  translated  by 
Du  Yair,  ii  280 

Erasmus,  Desiderius,  letter  to  Cop  from, 
i  8 ;  letter  from  Bude  to,  ib. ;  Rabelais's 
letter  to,  171;  Rabelais's  debt  to, 
198 

Este,  Ercole  d',  Duke  of  Ferrara,  i  67 

Estienne,  Charles,  tutor  to  J. -A.  de 
Baif,  ii  5;  translates  Terence's  An- 
dria,  71  ;  his  translation  of  Gli 
l7tgannati,    104 

Estienne,  Henri,  i  181;  his  birth  and 
education,  291  ;  his  travels  and  re- 
searches,/^.; his  edition  of  "Anacreon," 
ib.,  330-2  ;  his  Apologie  pour  Herodote, 
2g2~4;  his  Thesaurus,  294;  his  works 
relating  to  the  French  language,  294- 
296;  his  last  years,  and  death,  296; 
his  style,  296-298 ;  edits  the  Senten- 
tiae  of  P.  Syrus,  ii  7  ;  his  Latin 
translation  of  Sextus  Empiricus,  167; 
his  authorship  of  the  Discours  tner- 
veilleux   disproved,   230-1 ;    and  see 

323-  327-8 
Robert,  father  of   the    preceding, 

King's  printer,  i   19;    his  answer  to 

the  censure  of  the  Sorbonne,  298 
Estissac,  Geoffroy  d'.   Bishop  of  Mail- 

lezais,  i  23,  166;  his  friendship  with 


Rabelais,  167,  182 ;  his  correspon- 
dence with,   174 

Euripides,  translations  of,  i  37 

Eusebius.  translation  of.  i  36 

Eyquem,  Pierre,  father  of  Montaigne, 
"  '36-137;  mayor  of  Bordeaux, 
138;    death,    140 

Fabri,    Pierre,    his    Art  de  rhetorique, 

i  69,    152 

Farel,  Guillaume,  constrains  Calvin  to 
remain  at  Geneva,  i  2:7.  133  ;  Calvin's 
dedication  to,  233  ;  his  eloquence, 
234 ;    his  writings,    ib. 

Fauchet,  Claude,  his  translation  of 
Tacitus,  i  39  ;  his  Recueil  des  auti- 
quitez  Gauloises  et  Franchises,  504 ; 
his  Recueil  de  I'origine  de  la  langue 
et  poesie  francoise,    305 

Ficino,  Marsilio,  his  Latin  commentary 
on  the  Symposium,  i  137;  translated 
into  French,   138 

Fierabras,  i  157  and  n.   1 

Filleul,  Nicolas,  his  Les  Ombres,  ii  115 

Fine,  Oronce,  royal  professor  of  Mathe- 
matics, i  16 

Flaminio,  Marcantonio,  neo-Latin  poet, 
i  '47 

Fleuranges,  Robert  de  la  Marck,  Seigneur 
de,  a  companion  of  Francis  I  in  his 
boyhood  ;    his  memoirs,   i   240 

Flores,  Juan  de,  translations  of  his 
writings,    i   51,    137 

Flores y  Blancaflor,  i  162 

Folengo,  Girolamo  (Theophile),  other- 
wise Merlin  Coccaye,  Rabelais's  debt 
to,  i  19S-9,  200 

Fondulo.  Girolamo,  buys  Greek  mss. 
for  Francis  I,  i    is 

Fontaine,  Charles,  a  disciple  of  Marot, 
i  S4  ;  lines  <>r.  his  son  Jean,  85;  titles 
of  his  volumes  of  poems,  ib.  ;  his 
Coutr'  A  wye  de  Court,  86 :  l.e  Quintil- 
Horatian  wrongly  ascribed  to,  315; 
and  see  6<S 

Fontainebleau,  chateau  of,  i   12 

royal  library  at,  i   18 

Fonteny,  Jacques  de,  his  Chaste  A  • 
ii  1 16 

Forcadel.  Estienne,  professor  <>f  law  and 
bad  poet,  i  88 

Fouilloux,  Jacques  de,  his  Venerie,  ii  2: 

Francis  1,  his  character,  i  4;  bis 
education,    ib.  ;    his    1  in,    5 ; 

his  patronage  of  artists  and  men  ol 
letters,  6;  Ins  war  with  Charles V,  8; 
his  attitude  towards  reform,  ib.; 
three  benefits  conferred  by  him  on 
Humanism,  9;  his  love  ol  chivalry, 

10;  his  places  of  residence,   12;  forms 


350 


INDEX 


a  collection  of  Greek  mss.,  18;  moves 
the  library  at  Blois  to  Fontainebleau, 
ib. ;  Alamanni  reads  Dante  to  him, 
45 ;  story  relating  to  him  in  the 
Heptameron,  1 1 1 
Fregoso,  Battista,  Doge  of  Genoa,  i  198 
Froment,  Antoine,  his  writings,  i  243- 
244 

Gaguin,  Robert,  his  Compendium  super 

Francorum  gestis,  i  239 
GaKen  rhitore",  i  157 

Galland,  Jean,  principal  of  the  college 

of  Boncour,  a  friend  of  Ronsard,  i  322 

Galliot   du   Pre,    Paris   publisher,   i   50, 

5i.   64 
Garcilaso  de  la  Vega,   i  52 
Gargantua,  analysis  of,  i    183-5 
Gamier,  Robert,  his  elegy  on  Ronsard's 
death,  ii  67  ;  the  inheritor  of  Ronsard's 
style,  ib. ;  date  of  his  birth,  90  n.  2; 
his  Porcie,  90;  his  Hippolyte  and  his 
Comelie,  91;  his  Marc  Antoine  and 
his  La  Troade,  92  ;  his  Les  Juives,  93- 
94;    popularity  of  his  plays,  94;  his 
tragi-comedy    of  Bradamante,    100- 
101 
Gascony,  its  writers,  ii  319 
Gentillet,  Innocent,  not   the  author  of 

the  Discours  merveilleux,  ii  328 
Geoffroy  a  la  gran  dent,  i   157 
Gerard  d' Euphrate,  i  163 
Gesta  Romanorum,  the,   i   98,  99,    109 
Gilles,  Nicolas,  his  Chronicles,  i  239 
Gillot,   Jacques,   one  of  the  writers  of 

the  Satire  Menippee,  ii   233 
Giovanni,  Ser,  his  Fecorone,  i  97 
Gli  Ingannati,   translated   by  Charles 

Estienne,  ii   104 
Godard,  Jean,  his  Les  Desguisez,  ii  113 
Godefroy  de  Bouillon,  i   157 
Gohorry,  Jacques,  begins  a  new  trans- 
lation of  Livy,  i  39;   his  translation 
of  Machiavelli's  Discourses  on  the  first 
decade  of  Livy,  48  ;  of  three  books  of 
A  Hindis,  160;  his  poems,  91 
Gouffiei,    Artus,    Seigneur    de    Boisy, 

governor  to  Francis  I,  i  5 
Goujet,     Claude-Pierre     (1'Abbe),     his 

Bibliotheque  francaise,  ii  334 
Goujon,  Jean,  sculptor,  i  276,  279 
Gournay,  Marie  de,  her  admiration  for 
Montaigne's  Essays,  ii    148;   edits  a 
posthumous  edition  of  them,  155-6 
Gouvea,    Andre    de,    principal    of   the 
college  of  Sainte-Barbe,  i  17;  of  the 
college  of  Guienne  at  Bordeaux,  21 
- — —  Jacques  de,  uncle  of  the  preceding, 
principal    of  the    college    of  Sainte- 
Barbe,   i   17 


Gramont,Contessede(Az&'//£Corisande), 
death  of  her  husband,  ii  145  ;  letters 
of  Henry  IV  to,    198 

Grandes  ckroniques,  the,  continuators 
of,  ii  223 

Granjon,  Jean,  Lyons  publisher,  i  130 

Grazzini,  Antonio  Francesco,  called  II 
Lasca,  writer  of  comedy,  ii  no;  and 
of  Burlesque,  295;  publishes  a  col- 
lected edition  of  Opere  burlesche,  294 

Grevin,  Jacques,  attacks  Ronsard,  i 
321  ;  his  tragedy  of  Cesar,  ii  78-79, 
81;  his  non-dramatic  poetry,  79; 
his  comedies,  106-107;  his  pastorale, 

H5 
Gringore,   Pierre,  i  56,  64 ;   his  Blason 

des  heretiques,  89 
Grolier,  Jean,   bibliophil,  i  24 
Grosnet,      Pierre,     his     paraphrase    of 

portions  of  Seneca's  tragedies,   i   39 
Groulard,  Claude,  his  memoirs,  ii  214 

n.   2 
Gruget,     Claude,     translates      Mexia's 

Silva    de    varia    leccion,    i    50;    his 

edition  of  the  Heptameron,    106 
Gryphius,     Sebastien,     Lyons,    printer 

and  publisher,  i    24,   169,    172,    180 
Guarini,    Battista,   translation  of  his  II 

Pastor  fido,  ii    117 
Guevara,    Antonio    de,    French    trans- 
lations  of   his    works,   i    49-50   and 

note 
Gunther,     Jean,     of     Andernach,     his 

lectures  at  Paris,   i   176 
Guidacerio,  Agatho,  royal  professor  of 

Hebrew,  i   16 
Guidi,  Guido,  anatomist,  patronised  by 

Francis  I,  i  6 
Guienne.  college  of,  at  Bordeaux,  i  21; 

Montaigne  at,   ii   138 
Guise,  Charles  de,    Cardinal  of  Guise 

and  afterwards  of  Lorraine,  letters  of 

Rabelais  to,  i  180;  his  patronage  of 

learning    and    literature,    274,    275, 

276;    Ronsard's  epistle  to,   322 
Guy  de  Tours,    Michel,    his  poetry,    ii 

59-60 
Guy  on,  Louis,  his  statement  as  to  the 

authorship    of  the   Isle   Sonnante,    i 

189-190 

Habert,  Francois,  his  poetry,  i  87;  a 
specimen  of,   88  ;  and  see   1 1 

Harlay,  Achille  de,  first  President  of 
the  Paris  Parliament,  a  friend  of 
Pasquier,   i  303 ;    his  oratory,  ii  282 

Haton,  Claude,  his  memoirs,  ii  212 
n.  2 

Haudent,  Guillaume,  his  verse  rendering 
of  /Esop,  i  40 


INDEX 


351 


Heliodorus,  his  Hisloria  aethiopica,  i 
282,   287 

Henry  II,  his  character,  i  274;  condition 
of  art  and  letters  during  his  reign, 
275—277 ;  his  death,   277 

Henry  III,  his  relations  to  literature, 
i  278;  his  criticism  of  the  later 
Pleiad  school,  ib.  ;  advocates  Italian 
fashions,  295;  his  relations  with 
Henri  Estienne,  296;  his  weakness 
and  unpopularity,  ii  123;  D'Aubigne's 
portrait  of,  249;  his  Court,  312 

Henry  IV,  his  visits  to  Montaigne's 
ch&teau,  ii  147,  148;  his  corre- 
spondence with  Montaigne,  149;  his 
letters,  197-199;  the  hero  of  Sully's 
memoirs,  214;  welcomes  O.  de 
Serres's  Theatre  d' Agriculture,  ii 
286;    and  see  ib.   n.    2 

Heraldry,  popular  in  France,  i  1 1 

Herberay,  Nicolas  de,  Seigneur  des 
Essarts,  his  motto,  i  11;  translates 
El  relax  de  ptincipes,  50  ;  A  r unite  y 
Lncenda,  51;  and  Amadis,  159;  his 
death,  160;  character  of  his  trans- 
lation of  Amadis,  160-162;  his  prose 
style,  254 

Herodian,  translation  of,  i  36 

Heroet,  Antoine,  Bishop  of  Digne,  his 
verse  translation  of  part  of  the 
Symposium,  i  36;  an  avant-coureur 
of  the  Pleiad,  136;  his  Androgyne, 
138;  his  La  parfaite  amye,  86  n.  4, 
138,  141-142,  144;  in  the  service 
of  Margaret  of  Navarre,  141  ;  al- 
luded to  in  the  Deffence,  312;  and 
see  152 

Herolt,  Johann,  his  Promptuariutn  and 
Sermones  Discipuli,  i  98,  99 

Holcot,  Robert,  his  collection  of  ex- 
empla,   i  96  n. 

Homer,  Iliad  of,  translated  by  Salel, 
and  Odyssey  (two  books)  by  Peletier, 
i  37  ;   Ronsard's  debt  to,  323 

Horace,  translations  of,  i  38;  his  influence 
on  French  poetical  theory,  ib.  ;  imi- 
tated by  Du  Bartas,  ii  41  ;  his  Ars 
Poetica  plagiarised  by  Vauquelin  de 
la  Fresnaye,  65;  his  Satires,  294; 
Regnier's  debt  to,  298,   299 

Horapollo,  Hieroglyphica  of,  i  1  2 

Hotman,  Francois,  jurist,  i  280,  294, 
299;  his  Tigre,  ii  229;  his  Franeo- 
Gallia,  231  ;  not  the  author  of  the 
Discours  merveilleux,   328 

Huet,  Charles,  surnamed  La  Hueterie, 
joins  Sagon  in  his  quarrel  with  Marot, 
i  68 

Huon  de  Bordeaux,  i  156,  7 

Hurault,  Michel,  Seigneur  du  Fay,  his 


two  Discours  stir  I Estat  de  la  France, 
ii  232 

I  Confidenti,  visit  of  to  Paris  in   157:, 

and  in  1584-5,  ii  108 
/  Gelosi,  visit  of  to   Paris  in    157 1-2, 

ii   108 
Iver   or   Vver,    Jacques,   his  Printemps 

iCYver,  ii  181-182 

James    VI    of    Scotland    (James    I    of 
England),  translates    the    Urania  of 
Du   Bartas,  ii  37 
Jamet,  Lyon,  i  60,  63,  75 
Jamyn,  Amadis,  his  poetry,  ii  25-26 
Jeannin,  Pierre,  his  Negotiations,  ii  286 
Jodelle,  Estienne.  his  Cleopdtre,  ii  72-74, 
76,81;    his  Did,>n,   76-77;   his  non- 
dramatic  poetry,  77  ;  his  Eugene,  104- 
106 
Journal  <Tun  bourgeois  de  Paris,  i  241 
Jussie,  Jeanne  de,  abbess  of  St  Claire, 
her  Le  levain  du  calvinisme,  i   24: 

243 

Juste,  Francois,  Lyons  printer  and 
publisher,   i   170,   171,    172,    177 

Labe,  Louise,  her  life,  ii  19;  her  poetry, 
20-21 

La  belle  Helene,  i  157 

La  Boetie,  Estienne  de,  translates 
Ariosto,  i  48 ;  his  translation  of 
Plutarch's  Precepts  of  marriage,  :s<> ; 
his  sonnets,  ii  ^art-his  Contr'un,  139; 
his  friendship  with  Montaigne,  140 

La  Borderie,  Jean  Boiceau,  Seigneur  de, 
i  84  ;  his  poems,  86 

La  Croix  du  Maine,  Francois  Grade  de, 
his  Bibliothique,  i  302,  ii  332 

La  Fontaine,  i  63.  73,  [32,  217,  24S 

La  Halle,  Adam  de,  i  7^ 

La  Haye,  Jacques  Symon  de,  also 
called  Symon  Silvias,  i  101  ;  edits  the 
poems  of  Margaret  of  Navarre,  115; 
prefixes  to  them  a  poem  of  his  own, 
122  ;  his  translation  of  Ficino's  Latin 
commentary  on  the  Symposium,  [38 

Lambin,  Denys  (Lambinus),  his  know- 
ledge of  Latin,  i  2S1  ;  his  death,  2^4  ■. 
and  see  1  8 1 

Lamy,  sec  Amy 

Lancelot,  i  156,   157  n.  1 

La  None,  Francois  de,  hi-  opinion  of  the 
Amadii  ro 
politiques  et  milt  (aires,  ii  200-202 

La  Perriere,  Guillaume  de,  emblem- 
writer,  i    1  1 

La  Peruse,  Jean  I  !  member  of 

the  Poitiers  circle,  ii  19;  quoted,  30;  ai  is 
in  Jodelle's  playsj  7  2  ;  his  Afea  e,  j6 


352 


INDEX 


La  Place,  Pierre  de,  his  history  of  France 
(1559-1561),  ii  219,  220  n.  5;  not 
the  author  of  the  Discours  merveilleux, 
328 

La  Planche,  Estienne  de,  his  translation 
of  books   I— V    of   Tacitus's   A  finals, 

i  39 

Louis    Regnier    de,    his    history 

of  the  reign  of  Francis  II,  ii  219; 
his  Le  livre  des  marchands,  229- 
230 

La  Popeliniere,  Henri  Lancelot  Voisin 

de,  his  history,  ii  220 
Larivey,   Pierre,   his  comedies,   ii   109- 

1 1 1  ;    Moliere's  debt  to,    1 1 1   n.    [ 
La      Roche-Chandieu,      Antoine      de, 

attacks  Ronsard,  i  321 
Lascaris,  Janus,  patronised  by  Francis  I, 

i6 
La  Taille,   Jacques  de,   his  tragedies, 

Daire  and  Alexandre,  ii  85-86 

Jean  de,  his  De  Part  de  la  Tra- 

gedie,  ii  82  ;  his  life  and  writings, 
83-84;  his  Saul  le  furieux,  85;  his 
Les  Gabeonites,  ii.  ;  his  translation  of 
Ariosto's  Negromante,  102  ;  his  Les 
Corrivaux,  107;  his  Le  courlisan 
retiri,  296 

Latin,  use  of,  in  France,  i  30-31 

La  Tour  Landry,  Chevalier  de,  his  book, 

i  98,  107,   109 
Le  Blanc,   Estienne,   his  translation  of 

Cicero's  Philippics,  i  39 

Richard,    his    translation   of    the 

Lofi,   i  36 

Le  Caron,  Louis,  ii  22 

Le  disciple  de  Patitagruel,  i  195 

Le  Ferron,  Arnoul,  scholar  and  jurist, 
his  continuation  of  the  Latin  history 
of  Paolo  Emilio,  i  239 

Lefevre  d'Etaples,  Jacques  (Jacobus 
Faber  Stapulei^is),  his  translations  of 
the  Bible  iorbidden  to  be  sold  by  the 
Parlement  of  Paris,  i  30 ;  at  Nerac, 
102  ;    visited  there  by  Calvin,   226 

Le  Houx,  Jean,  his  Faux  de  Vire,  ii  60, 
61 

Le  Jars,  Louis,  his  Lucelle,  ii  99-100 

Le  Loyal  Serviteur,  i  24 1 

Le  Loyer,  Pierre,  his  Le  inuet  insense 
and  La  Nephilococugie,  ii  113 

Le  Macon,  Antoine.  his  translation  of 
the  Decameron,  i  44-45.  105,  217; 
his  poems,  122;  his  prose  style,  254 

Le  Maire,  Jean,  i  59,  60.  224 

Leo  Hebrseus  (Judah  Abarbanel),  his 
Dialoghi  di  amove,  i  137,  138  and 
n.  1 ;   translated  by  P.  de  Tyard,  ii  1 

Le  petit  Artus,  i  157  and  n.  1 

Le  Roy,  Louis,  his  education,   i  289 ; 


his  translations  of  Greek  proseauthors, 
290 ;  his  lectures  in  the  vernacular, 
id. 

Le  Roy,  Pierre,  author  of  the  first  sketch 
of  the  Satire  Menippee,  ii  233-234 

Lescot,  Pierre,  architect,  i  276,  279 

Lespine,  Charles  de,  a  poem  by  suggests 
to  Regnier  the  idea  of  Macette,  ii  300 

Les  quatre Jils  Aymon,  i  157  and  n.  1 

L'Estoile,  Pierre  de  (Petrus  Stella), 
professor  of  law  at  Orleans,  i  22 

Pierre  de  (grandson  of  the  pre- 
ceding), his  Memoires-Journaux,  ii 
208-9  >  n*s  reference  to  the  religious 
revival,  302 

L'Hospital,  Michel  de,  his  advice  to 
Ronsard,  i  318-319;  Ronsard's  Ode 
to,  323;  Montaigne's  dedicatory  letter 
to,  ii  141  ;  Brant6me's  portrait  of, 
194;   his  speeches,  284 

Limosin,  Leonard,  worker  in  enamel, 
i   276 

Lodge,  Thomas,  his  debt  to  Desportes, 

ii  53 

Loisel,  Antoine,  his  Pasquier  on  Dia- 
logue des  Advocats  du  Parlement  de 
Paris,  ii  282  ;    and  see  i  303 

Longus,  his  Daphnis  and  Chloe,  i  282, 
287 

L'Orme,  Philibert  de,  architect,  i  24, 
176.  275,  276,  279 

Louise  of  Savoy,  mother  of  Francis  I, 
her  attention  to  the  education  of  her 
children,  i  10;  Marot's  Eclogue  on 
her  death,  62,  80;  represented  in  the 
Heptameron  by  Osile,  107  ;  entry  in 
her  diary,   1 10 

Louppes,  Antoinette  de,  mother  of 
Montaigne,  ii  137 

Lucian,  translations  of,  i  36;  Rabelais's 
debt  to,   197 

Lyons,  important  centre  of  learning  and 
literature,  i  23 ;  its  distinguished  in- 
habitants, 24 ;  Trinity  college  at,  ib. ; 
and  see  ii  219 

Mabrian,  i   157 

Macault,  Antoine,  his  translation  of 
Diodorus  i-m,  i  36;  of  the  Pro 
Mi  lone,  and  other  speeches  of  Cicero, 

39  . 
Machiavelli,     translations     of,     i     48; 

Rabelais's  debt    to,    198;    his    Man- 

dragola,   ii    104 
Macho,  Julien,  his  translation  of  ^Esop, 

i  40 
Macrin,    Jean    Salmon,    called,    Latin 

poet,  i  26,   182 
Madrid,   chateau  of,  i   13 
Magny,  Olivier  de,  compared  to  A.  de 


INDEX 


>  C  "3 


Musset,  ii  10;  his  Amours  and 
Gayetes,  1 1 ;  his  journey  to  Rome, 
ib. ;  his  Souspirs,  12,  13;  his  Odes, 
I3~I5;  his  death,    15 

Mairet,  jean,  his  Sylvie,  his  Silvanire, 
and  his  Sophonisbe,  ii    117 

Malherbe,  Francois,  resemblance  be- 
tween Bertaut  and,  ii  268-9;  nis 
intimacy  with  Du  Vair,  279;  his 
controversy  with  Regnier,  ii  306-7 ; 
and  see  i  119,  ii  264,  265,  267,  270, 
291,  292  n.  1,  326 

Malingre,  Matthieu,  his  poems,  i  90 

Mantuanus,  Baptista  Spagnuoli,  known 
as,  his  Eclogues,  i  79 

Margaret  of  Angouleme,  Queen  of 
Navarre,  her  encouragement  of  letters 
and  learning,  i  10;  her  knowledge 
of  the  ancient  languages,  14;  her 
patronageofthe  University  of  Bourges, 
22;  her  support  of  the  evangelical 
preachers  at  Paris,  27 ;  her  knowledge 
of  Italian,  44;  a  student  of  Dante,  45; 
accused  of  heresy  by  Beda,  65 ; 
spiritual  element  in  her  poetry,  94; 
her  girlhood,  101 ;  her  first  marriage, 
ib.  ;  her  second  marriage,  with  the 
King  of  Navarre,  ib. ;  her  care  for  the 
kingdom  of  Navarre,  ib. ;  her  relations 
to  Protestantism,  102;  her  religion 
generally,  103;  her  study  of  Neo- 
Platonism,  ib. ;  her  death,  ib.;  her 
intellectual  qualities,//-'. ;  her  character, 
104;  her  influence  on  the  French 
Renaissance,/^. ;  Michelet's  phrase,  ib. 
The  Heptameron,  its  origin  and 
growth,  105 ;  its  publication,  ib. ; 
principal  editions,  ic6;  its  historical 
character,  106-108;  its  devisants, 
108,  109;  its  epilogues,  109;  its 
Protestantism,  no;  its  treatment  of 
social  questions,  ib.,  and  social  life, 
in;  noteworthy  stories,  1 1 1  - 1 1 2  ; 
its  style,  112;  specimens  of  style, 
113-114;  note  on  its  authorship, 
114;  Margaret's  interest  in  the  N  en- 
Platonic  theory  of  spiritual  love,  137, 
139  ;  her  position  among  the  writers 
of  the  reign  of  Francis  I,  253;  her 
prose  style,  254;  and  see  ii  310,  311, 

3'2>  3i5,  323 

Duchesse     de    Berry,     daughter 

of  Francis  I,  her  learning  and 
patronage  of  letters,  i  276;  her 
championship  of  Ronsard's  Odes,  319; 
Ronsard's  lines  on,  326  ;  Du  Bellay's 
Recncil  dedicated  to,  341  ;  her  mar- 
riage   with    the     Duke     of     Savoy, 

350-I 

of  Valois,  daughter  of  Henry  II, 

T.  II. 


Brantome's  account   of,  ii    193;    her 
memoirs  and  letters,  196-197 

Marion,    Simon,    his    reputation    as    a 
forensic  speaker,  ii    :S: 

Marot.  Clement,  his  motto,  i  11  ; 
present  at  dinner  in  honour  of  Dolet, 
25;  translates  books  1,  11  of  Ovid's 
Metamorphoses,  38  ;  and  six  sonnets 
of  Petrarch,  4;  ;  birth,  57  ;  education, 
ib.  ;  his  early  poetical  writing-.  58 
59 ;  taken  prisoner  at  Pavia,  59 : 
appointed  valet  de  chambre  to  the 
King,  60  ;  arrested,  ib.  ;  converted  to 
Protestantism,  61  ;  Ids  Epistles,  62- 
63  ;  edits  Villon,  64  ;  his  Adolescence 
Clementine,  65  ;  Suite  de  F Adolescence, 
66;  at  Ferrara,  ib.,  173;  at  Venice, 
67;  returns  to  France,  ib.  ;  his 
recantation,  ib. ;  quarrel  with  Sagon, 
68;  new  edition  of  his  poems,  70; 
his  translation  of  the  Psalms,  ib.  ; 
his  flight  to  Geneva,  71  ;  his  Psalms, 
ib. ;  his  death,  72  ;  general  charac- 
teristics of  his  poetry,  ib.;  his  debt 
to  classical  models;  his  chansons 
and  rondeaitx,  73-74  ;  epigrams,  74  ; 
epistles,  75;  Cotj  a  Mine,  76  ;  elegies. 
77;  Eclogues,  78-79;  his  metres, 
80  ;  Psalms,  80-82  ;  his  services  to 
French  poetry,  82  ;  his  school,  84  ; 
his  blazons,  89,  101,  119,  152,  r8a; 
quoted  by  Rabelais,  198  ;  by  Bonivard, 
249;  his  rank  among  the  writers  oi 
the  reign  of  Francis  1,  253;  allusion 
to  in  the  Deffence,  312;  referred  to, 

ii  3'°.  3".  3™>  3*5 

Jean,    father    of    the    preceding, 

i  54>  ?7>  58)  60 
Martin,  Jean, his  translation  of  Vitruvius 
and  of  works  on  architecture  by  Serlio 
and  Alherti,  i  39  ;  revises  translations 
of  the  Hypnerotomachia  and  t'.n 
Libro   del  peregrine,    46;    a    pn 
translation    of  the    Orlando   Ft 
possibly  by  him,  48;   his  translation 
of  Gli  Asolani,    1  38 

Jean,   Lyons  publisher,  i   [89 

Marullo,    Michele,    neo-Latin    po 

1 4 7  ;    Ronsard's  delit    !>>,   334,   330 
Mary    Stuart,   sends    Ronsard    a     ide 

board,   i   322 
Masuccio,  his  Novellino,  i  97,  107,  100 
Matignon,    Marlchal    de',    lieutenant 

general  of  Guyenne,  ii   1  (.6,   1  \- 
Maugis,  i   157 
Mauro,  Giovanni,  writer  oi  Burli 

ii  294  ;  imitated  by  Regnier, 
Medici,   <  !a1  hai  ine  de',  hei    mai  1 

i  4  ;  ;    hei   love  "I    building,   175  6  : 

her   library,    ib.\    hei    patronagi    "i 


354 


INDEX 


Palissy,  ii  133;  Brantome's  account 
of,  193  ;  attacked  in  pamphlets,  230; 
and  see  148 

Medici,  Lorenzo  de\  his  Siviposio  or 
Beoni,  ii  294 

Meigret,  Louis,  his  phonetic  system, 
i  34 ;  his  grammar,  ib.  ;  his  translation 
of  Polybius,  36;  of  the  Deofficiis,  39  ; 
of  three  books  of  Pliny's  Natural 
History,  ib. ;  of  Sallust's  Jugurtha 
and   Catiline,  ib. 

Meliadus,  i   10 

Melusine,   i   157 

Mendoza,  Diego  Hurtado  de,  Spanish 
ambassador  in  Italy,  collects  manu- 
scripts, i  6 

Mergy,  Jean  de,  his  memoirs,  ii  212 

Merlin,  i   157  n.    1 

Mesmes,  Henri  de,  his  account  of  his 
education,  i  272,  273 

Jean  Pierre  de,  his  translation  of 

Ariosto's  Suppositi,  i  48 

Mexia,  Pedro,  translation  of  his  Silva 
de  varia  leccion,  i  50 

Meynier,  Jean,  Baron  d'Oppede,  his 
translation  of  Petrarch's  Trionfi,  i  45 

Michel,  Guillaume,  his  translation  of 
the  Eclogues  and   Georgics,  i  38 

Millanges,  Simon,  printer  of  Montaigne's 
Essays,  i  144;  and  see  ii  274 

Minturno,  Antonio  Sebastiano,  debt  of 
Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye  to,  ii  65 

Moliere,  his  debt  to  Larivey,  ii  1  n  n.  I 

Molinet,  Jean,  i  53 

Molza,  Francesco  Maria,  neo-Latin 
poet,  i  147 

Monluc,  Blaise  de,  Brantome's  account 
of  his  conversational  powers,  ii  193; 
his  Continent  aires,  202,  203,  205,  206; 
his  character,  203 ;  his  defence  of 
Siena,  204;  and  see  i  302,  ii  316, 
325.  326 

Jean    de,    Bishop    of    Valence, 

brother  of  the  preceding,  an  Italian 
scholar,  i  44 

Montaigne,  Michel  de,  his  remarks  on 
Amyot's  Plutarch,  i  283,  284,  288  ; 
Pasquier's  remarks  on,  303  ;  his 
opinion  of  La  Boetie's  sonnets,  ii  22 ; 
his  favour  with  English  men  of  letters, 
136  ;  his  training  and  education,  137- 
138  ;  his  career  as  a  magistrate,  138 ; 
his  friendship  with  La  Boetie,  138- 
1 40  ;  his  marriage,  140  ;  his  succession 
to  his  father's  estate,  ib.  ;  his  trans- 
lation of  R.  de  Sebonde's  Theologia 
naturalis,  ib. ;  edits  La  Boetie's 
works,  141  ;  resigns  his  seat  in  the 
Bordeaux  Parliament,  and  lives  on 
his    estates,    ib. ;     his    chdteau    ami 


library,  142  ;  his  books,  ib.  ;  the 
sentences  painted  on  the  beams  of 
the  library  ceiling,  143  ;  his  life  from 
1571  to  1580,  144  ;  his  Essays  (First 
and  Second  books)  published,  ib.  ; 
his  travels,  145  ;  accepts  the  office  of 
Mayor  of  Bordeaux,  146  ;  is  re-elected 
for  a  second  term,  ib. ;  visit  of  Henry 
of  Navarre  to  his  chateau,  147  ;  his 
energy  as  Mayor,  ib.  ;  outbreak  of 
the  plague,  ib. ;  publishes  a  new 
edition  of  the  Essays  in  three  books, 
148  ;  visits  Paris  and  Blois,  ib.  ;  his 
last  years  and  death,  149  ;  questions 
raised  by  his  Essays,  150;  gradual 
development  of  his  design,  150-152  ; 
portraiture  of  himself,  152-153;  the 
Third  book,  154;  his  quotations,  ib.  ; 
posthumous  edition  of  the  Essays, 
155-156  ;  nature  and  value  of  his 
self-portraiture,  157-160  ;  his  Journal 
du  voyage,  159  ;  his  debt  to  Seneca 
and  Plutarch,  160-162  ;  his  ethical 
philosophy,  162-163;  his  views  on 
education,  164-165  ;  his  religious 
belief,  165-166  ;  his  scepticism,  166- 
170;  his  style,  171-176;  Brantome's 
dislike  of,  190;  his  conversation  with 
D'Aubigne,  251  ;  Charron's  friend- 
ship with,  274;  Charron's  plagiarism 
of,  275,  276,  277;  O.  de  Serres 
compared  with,  287  ;  his  spiritual 
kinship  with  Regnier  and  Horace, 
298-9  ;  his  attitude  towards  the 
Renaissance,  ii  313-4;  his  lack  of 
plan,  317  ;  and  see  315,  316,  321,  322 

Montaigne,  Mme  de,  her  marriage,  ii 
1 40  ;  helps  to  prepare  a  posthumous 
edition  of  the  Essays,  155 

Montalvo,  Garci-Ordonez  de,  author  of 
Atnadis  de  Gaula,  i   158-9 

Montchrestien,  Antoine,  his  L'Ecossaise, 
ii  95-97  ;  his  other  plays,  97 

Montemur,  Jorge  de,  influence  of  his 
Diana  on  Desportes  and  on  French 
literature  generally,  ii  52  ;  and 
especially  on  pastoral  drama,   116 

Montmorency,  Anne  de,  Constable 
of  France,  his  patronage  of  art 
and  letters,  i  275  ;  of  Palissy,  ii 
133;  Brantome's  account  of,  193; 
D'Aubigne's  portrait  of,  250 

Montpellier,  University  of,  its  medical 
school,  i  22;  Rabelais  a  student  of, 
169,   175 

Montpezat,  Jean  de,  and  his  wife, 
dez'isants  of  the  Heptamcron,    i    109 

Montreux,  Nicolas  de,  his  pastoral 
dramas,    ii    116;    his    /.<■    Printemps 

d'Et:-,  18: 


INDEX 


355 


Morin,  lean,  publisher  of  the  Cymbalum 

A  fundi,  i  1 24 

Mornay,  Mmede,  seeDu  Plessis-Mornay 

Mottoes,  used  by  poets,  i  1 1 

Muret,  Marc-Antoine,  his  play  of 
Julius  Caesar,  ii  71,  78  ;  professor  at 
the  College  of  Guienne,  138  n.  t 

Mussel,  Alfred  de,  i  74 

Navagero,  Andrea,  neo- Latin  poet,  i 
147  ;  imitated  by  Du  Bellay,  347 

Neobar,  Conrad,  King's  printer  for 
Greek,   i    19 

Neo-Platonic   theory  of  spiritual   love, 

J  !37-i39>    Mi 
Nerac,   i   101 
Neufville,    Nicholas    de,    Seigneur    de 

Villeroy,   Marot  page  to,  i  58 
Niceron,    Jean-Pierre,    his     Memoires, 

»  334 

Nicolas  of  Troyes,  his  Grand  Paraiigon, 

i  99-100 
Nisnies,  University  of,  i  21 
Nourry,     Claude,    Lyons    printer    and 

publisher,   i   169,    170 
Novellino,  the,   i  97 

Ogier  le  Danois,   i   157 

Olivetan,  Pierre  Robert,  his  view  of  the 

French  language,  i  30 ;  of  orthography, 

34 ;    his    translation    of    the    Bible, 

40-43,   123 
Oresme,    Nicolas,    his    translations    of 

Aristotle,  i  37 
Orleans,   University  of,  i  22 
Orleans,  Charles  d',  i  54,   57 
Orthography,   condition  of,   i  34 
Ossat,  Arnaud  d',  Cardinal,  his  letters, 

ii  286 
Ovid,   his  popularity  in  France,  i  37  ; 

translations   of,    38 ;     his   A  mores  a 

source  of  Regnier's  Macette,  ii  300 

Pagnini,  Sanctes,  Hebrew  scholar,  i  24 

Palissy,  Bernard,  his  early  life,  ii  130; 
his  Kecepte  veritable,  130-132;  his 
later  life  and  death,  133  ;  his  Discours 
admi rabies,  133-135;  and  see  i  276, 
7.  ii  325 

Palma-Cayet,  Pierre- Victor,  his  Chro- 
nologie  novenaire  and  Chronologic 
septenaire,  ii  220 ;   and  see  252 

Palmer  in  de  Oliva,  i    162 

Paltnerin  of  England,  i   162 

Palsgrave,  John,  his  French  grammar, 

i  33 

Pantagruel,  analysis  of,   i    1X4    1 88 
Papillon,  Almanaque,  i  84  ;  his  poem, 

Le  nouvel  amour,  87 
Pare,  Ambroisc,    his    life,    ii    1 26    127; 


his  writing,  [37-129;  his  religion, 
129  n.  2;  attends  Palissy's  lectures, 
133;  and  see  325 

Paris,  University  of,  its  attitude  towards 
Humanism,  i  16-17;  Rabelais  a 
student  of,  168 ;  its  colleges  of 
Boncour,  332,  ii  72  ;  Coqueret,  i  310; 
La  Marche,  225;  Lemoine,  2S1  ; 
Lisieux,  17  ;  Montaigu,  16,  22^  ; 
Navarre,  273,  309;  Presles,  273,  274; 
Sainte-Barbe,   17 

Paris  et  Vienne,  i  1 57 

Pasquier,  Estienne,  citations  from  his 
Recherches  de  la  France,  i  136,  150, 
160,  162  ;  his  education,  299 ;  his 
early  writings,  ib. ;  his  defence  of  the 
University  of  Paris  against  the  Jesuits, 
ib. ;  appointed  advocate-general  in 
the  Chambre  des  Comptes,  ib.  ;  his 
loyalist  principles,  300 ;  his  retire- 
ment and  death,  ib.  ;  his  Recherches 
de  la  France,  300-301  ;  his  letters, 
301-303  ;  his  character,  303  ;  his 
remarks  on  Montaigne,  ib.  ;  his  style, 
304  ;  his  account  of  the  production  of 
Jodelle's  Cleop&lre,  ii  72  ;  of  a  con- 
versation with  Montaigne,  ii  [48; 
of  Montaigne's  last  moments,  149  n.  5  ; 
calls  Du  Fail  a  singe  de  Rabelais, 
184;  his  account  of  the  forensic 
speakers  of  his  day,   282 

Estienne,    rector    of    the    schools 

of  Louhans,  his  translation  of  certain 
treatises  of  Plutarch,  i  36 

Passerat,  Jean,  his  experiment  in  vers 
mesures,  ii  8;  his  contributions  to 
Latin  scholarship,  54;  his  poetry, 
54-56,  and  sec  31  2 

Pastoral  drama,   i    11:    117 

Paul  III,   Pope,   i    167,    177 

Peletier,  Jacques,  bis  motto,  in;  In- 
phonetic  system,  34;  his  translation 
of  two  books  of  the  Odyssey,  37  ;  of 
book  1  of  the  Georgics,  38;  of  the 
Ars  Poetica  and  a  few  odes  of  II 
ib.  ;  of  twelve  sonnets  of  1'etrarch, 
45;  his  relation  to  Des  Peril 
Joyeux  Devis,  131;  his  birth  and 
education,  142;  dedication  prefixed 
to  his  translation  of  the.//:  Poetica, 
143;  his  relations  with  Ronsard,  ib.  ; 
his  poetry,  143-144;  his  Art  poltiffue, 
144;  pay-  court  to  Louise  Lalic,  145  ; 
resides  at  Pari  \nnecy,  ib.  ; 

returns  to  Paris,  where  he  dies,  ib.  J 
his  meeting  with  Joachim  <ln  Bellay, 

3"  ' 
Pellicier,   Guillaume,    Bishop  ol    Mont- 
pellier,  his  library,  i    2  2  ;     In  -   I 
to   Rabelais,   177,    182 


356 


INDEX 


Penicauds,  the,  workers  in  enamel,  i  276 
Perceforest,  a  romance  of  chivalry,  i  10 
Perrin,  Francois,  his  Les  Escolicrs,  ii  1 12 
Petrarch,  his  influence  in  France,  i  44; 
translations  of,  ib. ;  his  Latin  eclogues, 

79 
Philieul,    Vasquin,    his    translation    of 

Petrarch,  i  45,   341 
Pibrac,  Guy  du    Faur  de,   a  friend  of 

Pasquier,   i  303 ;   his   career,  ii  43  ; 

his     moral     quatrains,     44-45  ;     his 

poem,  Les  plaisirs  de  la  vie  rustiijue, 

45 ;    the  leading  forensic  speaker  of 

his  day,  ii  282 
Pierre  de  Provence,  i  157 
Pilon,  Germain,  sculptor,  i  276,  279 
Pindar,  Ronsard's  Odes  modelled  on,  i 

323 

Pins,  Jean  de,  Bishop  of  Rieux,  his 
patronage  of  scholars,    i  23 

Pithou,  Pierre,  "nothing  of  a  Greek 
scholar,"  i  294;  friend  and  corre- 
spondent of  Pasquier,  303 ;  his 
library  and  his  writings,  ii  234  ; 
author  of  D'Aubray's  speech  in  the 
Satire  Menippee,   236 

Placards,  the  affair  of  the,  i  9,  28,  173 

Plato,  translation  of  his  Hipparchns, 
i  36 ;  Axiochus  (spurious),  ib. ;  Ion, 
ib.  ;  Crilo,  ib.  ;  Lysis,  ib.  ;  Titmeus, 
290 ;  Pheedo,  ib.  ;  Symposium,  ib.  ; 
Republic,  ib. ;  verse  translation  of  the 
Symposium,  i  36  ;  Rabelais's  opinion 
of,  197  ;  his  copy  of  his  works,  ib. 
n.  2 

Plautus,  his  Miles  Gloriosus  adapted  by 
J. -A.  de  Baif,  ii  7,  108;  his  influence 
on  Renaissance  comedy,  102 

Pleiad,  the,  constitution  of,  i  314;  its 
work,  ii  27-32  ;  its  reforms  in  voca- 
bulary, 28-29 ;  in  syntax,  29 ;  in 
style,  29-30 ;  its  defects,  30-32 ;  its 
services  to  poetry,  32  ;  and  see  312 

Plutarch,  translations  of,  i  36:  Rabelais's 
debt  to,  197;  his  characteristics,  284, 
287;  his  style,  286;  his  influence  in 
France,   284 

Poggio,  his  Facetiae,  i  97,  98,  99,  107, 

!32 
Poitiers,  a  literary  centre,  i  167,  Ii  18, 

319;  University  of,  i  22,  311 

Politiques,    the    party   of   the,    ii   226, 

Poliziano,  Angelo,  his  Orfeo,  i  79 
Polybius,  translation  of,  i  36 
Pontalais,  Jehan  du,  i  56 
Pontano,  Giovanni  Gioviano,  neo-  Latin 

poet,  i  147 
Pont  hits  el  la  belle  Sidoine,   i   157  and 

n.    1 


Primaleon  of  Greece,  i  163 
Primaticcio,    Francesco,    employed    at 

Fontainebleau,  i  6,   271 
Professorships,  the  royal,  i  15-17 
Psalms,    the,    Marot's    translation    of, 

i  70-7 1 ,  80-8 1 ;  Desportes's  translation 

of,  ii  47 
Puits-Herbault,  Gabriel  de,  his  attack 

on  Rabelais,  i  180 
Pulci,  Luigi,  i  46 

Quinlil-IIoratian,  Le,  its  authorship  and 
date  of  publication,  i  315 

Rabelais,  Francois,  studies  law  at 
Bourges,  i  22 ;  corrector  to  Gryphius's 
press,  24 ;  at  dinner  in  honour  of 
Dolet,  25 ;  his  relations  to  Protes- 
tantism, 28;  his  view  of  Calvin,  29; 
his  poetry,  93,  127;  his  list  of  heroes 
of  romances  of  chivalry,  157;  date 
of  his  birth,  165  ;  place  of  his  birth, 
ib.  ;  his  early  education,  166;  enters 
the  Franciscan  convent  of  Fontenay- 
le-Comte,  ib.  ;-his  Greek  studies,  ib. ; 
his  correspondence  with  Bude,  167  ; 
enters  the  Benedictine  monastery  of 
Maillezais,  ib.  ;  residence  at  Liguge, 
ib.  ;  probably  a  medical  student  at 
the  University  of  Paris,  168;  at  other 
Universities,  ib.  ;  matriculates  at 
Montpellier,  169;  admitted  to  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Medicine,  ib.  ;  his 
lectures,  ib.  ;  edits  letters  of  Man- 
ardus,  and  two  spurious  Latin  legal 
documents,  ib. ;  revises  Les  grandes 
Croniques,  170;  writes  Pantagruel, 
ib. ;  Almanacs  and  Prognostications, 
1 70-1  ;  appointed  physician  to  the 
Lyons  hospital,  171  ;  writes  to 
Erasmus,  ib.;  goes  to  Rome,  172; 
writes  Gargantua,  ib. ;  his  post  at  the 
hospital  filled  up,  1 73 ;  second  journey 
to  Rome,  ib.  ;  corresponds  with 
Bishop  of  Maillezais,  174;  addresses 
a  petition  to  the  Pope,  ib.  ;  returns  to 
France,  ib.;  present  at  the  dinner  to 
Dolet,  175  ;  takes  Doctor's  degree  at 
Montpellier,  ib.  ;  his  lectures,  ib.  ; 
his  anatomical  demonstrations,  175- 
6  ;  becomes  a  canon  of  the  abbey  of 
Saint-Maur  des  Fosses,  176;  at 
Turin  with  G.  du  Bellay,  177  ;  at 
Lyons,  ib.  ;  his  quarrel  with  Dolet, 
ib.  ;  writes  and  publishes  his  Third 
book,  178;  his  flight  to  Metz,  179; 
appointed  town-physician,  ib. ;  pub- 
lishes fragment  of  Fourth  book,  ib. ; 
goes  to  Rome,  ib.  ;  writes  La  Scio- 
mac/iie,  180;  returns  to  France,  ib.  ; 


INDEX 


357 


appointed  cure  of  Meudon  and  Saint- 
Cristophe  du  Jambet,  ib. ;  publishes 
complete  Fourth  book,  181  ;  resigns 
his  livings,  ib.  ;  his  death,  182  ; 
held  in  high  esteem  by  his  contem- 
poraries, ib. 

Analysis  of  Gargantua  and  Panta- 
gruel,  183-188.  The  Fifth  book- 
its  publication,  188-9;  manuscript  of, 
189;  discussion  of  its  authenticity, 
189-195 

Appreciation  of  Rabelais.  His 
comic  side,  195  ;  his  indecency, 
196  ;  his  contempt  for  women,  ib.  ; 
his  learning  and  its  sources,  197-9  ; 
his  characters,  200-202 ;  his  opinions, 
(i)  on  politics,  203 ;  (ii)  on  the 
administration  of  justice,  204 ;  (iii) 
on  monasticism,  204-5  »  0V)  on 
education,  205-8;  his  religious  views, 
208-212;  his  philosophy,  212-214; 
his  style,  214-220;  his  position 
among  modern  writers,  220;  often 
referred  to  by  Bonivard,  249;  imi- 
tators of,  ii  181 ;  imitated  by  Noel  du 
Fail,  184;  by  N.  de  Cholieres,  186; 
by  Marnix  de  Sainte-Aldegonde,  ii 
241 ;  and  see  322 
Rabutin,  Francois  de,  his  Commentaires, 

ii  211 
Raemond,  Florimond  de,  ii  43,  206 
Ramus,  Pierre,  his  thesis  attacking 
Aristotle,  i  272  ;  appointed  a  royal 
professor,  273;  his  lectures,  ib.  ;  his 
reform  of  dialectic,  ib.  ;  his  P'rench 
grammar,  ib. ;  Pasquier's  letter  to  on 
the  subject  of  orthography,  302  ;  see 

"3*4 

Rapin,  Nicolas,  his  experiments  in  vers 
mesurh,  ii  8  ;  his  poetry,  58 

Raulin,  Jean,  popular  preacher,  i  198 

Reformation,  progress  of  in  France,  i 
26-29 

Regnier,  Mathurin,  belongs  to  the 
Renaissance,  ii  291  ;  his  life,  292  ; 
his  Satires,  the  Second,  297  ;  the 
Third,  ib.  ;  the  Fourth  and  Sixth, 
298 ;  the  Fifth,  reminiscences  of 
Montaigne,  ib.;  the  Seventh,  Eighth, 
and  Ninth,  299 ;  first  edition  of 
Satires,  ib.  ;  the  Tenth  and  Eleventh, 
imitations  of  Berni  and  Caporali,  299- 
300  ;  the  Thirteenth  (A/acette),  300  ; 
its  sources,  300-1 ;  religious  revival  in 
Paris,  301-2;  K.'s  last  satires  and 
death,  302  ;  K.  as  an  observer  and 
painter  of  life,  303;  unable  to  con- 
struct a  poem,  ib. ;  his  borrowings, 
304;  his  individuality,  ib. ;  specimens 
of  his  verse,  305-6;  his  dispute  with 


Malherbe,  306-7;  date  of  hi-  earliest 
satire,  308-9;  and  see  32,;,  3  ."> 

Rely,  Jean  de,  his  French  Bible,  i  41- 
42    ' 

Renee  of  France,  Duchess  of  Ferrara, 
i  66 

Reymond,  Pierre,  worker  in  enamel. 
1   276 

Rhodiginus,  Cselius  (Lodovico  Ricchieri 
of  Rovigo),  i  198 

Rivaudeau,  Andre  de,  a  member  of  the 
Poitiers  circle,  ii  18  ;  his  tragedy  of 
Avian,  80 

Robert  le  Diable,  i  157  and  n.  1 

Robertet,  Florimond,  i  61 

Rochefort,  Francois  de,  Bishop  of 
Condom,  tutor  to  Francis  I  and  hi> 
sister  Margaret,   i  5 

Roffet,  Estienne,  Paris  publisher,  i  71 

Pierre,  Paris  publisher,  i  65 

Rojas,  Fernando  de,  author  of  the 
Celestina,  i  51  n.  1  ;  and  see 
C el  est  ina 

Romans  d'avetttures,  i  155   7 

Ronsard,  Pierre  tie,  i  119;  his  first 
printed  poem,  143;  his  interchange 
of  verses  with  Charles  IX,  :7s;  bis 
birth  and  early  education,  30s  ;ow  ; 
appointed  page  to  the  Dauphin,  and 
to  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  309;  at  the 
Scottish  court,  ib.  ;  in  England,  ib.  ; 
attached  to  Lazare  de  BalFs  mission 
to  Hagenau,  ib.;  at  the  French  court, 
ib.;  his  illness  and  deafness,//'.;  takes 
orders,  ib. ;  becomes  Dorat's  pupil, 
ib. ;  joins  the  College  of  Coqueret, 
310;  meets  Joachim  du  Bellay,  ib.  ; 
publishes  his  Odes,  314;  and  his 
Amours,  318;  his  reconciliation  with 
Saint-Gelais,  319;  solicits  patron 
ib.;  publishes  the  Amours  de  Marie, 
320;  his  position  definitely  established  , 
ib. ;  receives  numerous  benefices,  ib. ; 
probably  did  not  take  priest's  ordei  -, 
321  ;  Protestant  attack  on  him,  ib.  ; 
his  reply,  ib.;  publication  ol  the 
Francia.de,  322;  retires  from  Court, 
ib.;  his  declining  years  and  death, 
322-323;  criticism  of  his  poetry, 
323  ff.  ;  the  Pindaric  Odcat_-^23  ; 
{ttfr-Fraiiaaite. 

Eclogues7,"  326;  Discours,  3:7; 
Amours  de  Cassandre,  32S  t) ;  Amours 
de  Marie,  3:9  330 ;  non-Pindari( 
Odes,  330  3 ;  Elegie  ,  3.;.;  5 ;  In.  love 
of  the  country,  335;  his  imagination, 
ib.  ;  his  sonnet  to  I  Iclcne  'I 

336;  his  style  generally,  ib.\  his 
ni>  1  rical  experiment  ■,  and  his  ervices 

to  metre,   336  <j  ;   \u>   sonnet   on    I  >u 


358 


INDEX 


Bartas's  poetry,  ii  37  ;  his  translation 

of   Aristophanes's    Plutus,   72 ;    and 

see  311,  315,  320,  325 
Rosso,  Giambattista,  painter,  employed 

at  Fontainebleau,  i  6,  271 
Rouen,  its  local  school  of  poets,  i  23; 

a  literary  centre,  i  69,  ii  319 
Rouillet,  Claude,  his  Philanire,  ii  88 
Roussel,  Gerard,  preaches  in  the  Louvre, 

i  65  ;  Margaret  of  Navarre's  spiritual 

adviser,  i  102  ;  and  see  225 
Rus,  Jean,  his  poetry,  i  88 

Sabbadino    degli    Arienti,    his    Navelle 

Porrelane,  i  97 
Sacchetti,  Francesco,  his  Novelle,  i  97, 

107 
Sagon,  Francois,  his  quarrel  with  Marot, 

i  68 
Sainte-Aldegonde,  Philippe  de  Marnix 

de,   his   Tableau   des  differens   de  la 

religion,  ii  241 
Sainte-Marthe,  Charles  de,  professor  at 

the     College     of    Guyenne     and     a 

Protestant,   i    26,    92  ;    his   writings, 

92 ;    in    the  service   of  Margaret   of 

Navarre,    101 

Scevole  de,  a  student  at  Poitiers, 

a  friend  of  Pasquier,  i  303,  ii  18; 
his  poetry,  23-24  ;  his  Pacdoiiophia, 
24  ;  his  Elogia,  24,  333 

Saint-Gelais,  Mellin  de,  a  typical  court- 
poet,  i  12  ;  his  verses  on  Budr's 
funeral,  19;  translates  Ariosto,  48; 
helps  to  revise  a  translation  of  the 
Cortegiano,  ib.,  93;  his  Italian 
leanings,  94,  1 36  ;  birth  and  education, 
146;  in  Italy,  ib. ;  his  interest  in 
Italian  poetry,  147  ;  introduces  the 
sonnet  into  France,  147,  152-3;  his 
sonnets,  147-8  ;  in  favour  at  Court, 
149  ;  characteristics  of  his  poetry, 
149-15 1  ;  publication  of  his  poems, 
150;  his  position  as  a  poet,  255  ; 
alluded  to  in  the  Defence,  312; 
ridicules  Ronsard's  Odes,  318;  his 
quarrel  and  reconciliation  with  him, 
318-319;  the  original  of  Du  Bel- 
lay's  Le  poele  courtisan,  350 ;  his 
version  of  Trissino's  Sofouisba,  ii  75, 
80  ;  and  see  i  152 

Octovien   de,    Bishop  of  Angou- 

leme,  reputed  father  of  the  pre- 
ceding, his  translation  of  Ovid's 
Epistles,  i  38 ;  of  the  Aineid,  ib.  ;  a 
translation  of  Ovid's  Remedium 
Amoris  attributed  to  him,  ib.,  54; 
and  see  146 

Saint-Germain,  chdteau  of,  i   13 
Saint-Maur  des  Fosses,  i  176 


Saint-Porchaire,  faience  of  (Henri  Deux 
ware),  i  276 

Salel,  Hugues,  his  translation  of  the 
Iliad,  i  37 ;  his  poetry,  93  ;  patron  of 
O.  de  Magny,  ii  11 ;  and  see  i  152 

Saliat,  Pierre,  his  translation  of 
Herodotus,   i  36,   289 

Salignac,  Bertrand  de,  his  account  of 
the  siege  of  Metz,  ii  2 1 1 

Salviati,  Cassandre,  Ronsard's  Cas- 
sandre,   i  328  n.    2 

Sancy,  Nicolas  Harlay  de,   ii   25 1 

Sannazaro,  Jacopo,  his  Arcadia,  i  47. 
79,  80  n.  i  ;  translated  by  J.  Martin, 
49  ;  a  writer  of  Latin  verse,  147  ;  his 
Latin  eclogues,  1 16 

San  Pedro,  Diego  de,  French  transla- 
tions of,  i  5  1 

Sansovino,  Francesco,  satirist,  publishes 
a  collection  of  satires,  ii  293 ; 
plagiarised  by  Vauquelin  de  la 
Fresnaye,   296 

Sarto,  Andrea  del,  at  the  French  court, 
i6 

Sasso,  Panfilo,  imitated  by  Desportes, 
ii  48 

Satire,  the  beginnings  of  in  France, 
ii   293-296 

Satire,  Italian,  ii  293-4 

Satire  Menippee,  the,  its  origin,  ii  234- 
235,  329-331;  its  contents,  235  ff. ; 
speech  <>f  Mayenne,  236—237;  of 
the  Cardinal  Legate,  237 ;  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Lyons,  ib. ;  of  Roze, 
238  ;  of  Rieux,  ib.  ;  of  Aubray,  238- 
240 ;    its    verse,    240-241;     and    see 

Saulx,  Gaspard  de,  Seigneur  de  Ta- 
vannes,  ii  209 

Guillaume  de,   Seigneur  de   Ta- 

vannes,  his  memoirs,  ii  210 

Jean  de,   Seigneur  de   Tavannes, 

his  memoirs,   ii   209 

Scaliger,  Joseph  Justus,  i  294 

— —  Julius  Caesar,  his  Poetice,   ii  !So, 

81 
Sceve,  Guillaume,  i  24 

Maurice,    his    motto,    i     11;    his 

translation  of  Grimatiey  Gradissa,  5 1 ; 
an  avant-coureur  of  the  Pleiad,  136; 
his  early  writings,  1  37  ;  his  Dclic.  1  ,s, 
139-140;  opinions  of  Du  Bellay  and 
Pasquier  on  his  poetry,  139,  312;  in- 
fluenced by  Serafino  of  Aquila,  140; 
his  other  poetry,  ib. ;  mentioned,  152; 
his  probable  influence  on  Du  Bellay, 

340 
Sebonde,    Raymond    de,  his    Theologia 
naturalis  translated  by  Montaigne,  ii 
141;  Montaigne's  Apology  for,  167-168 


INDEX 


359 


Selve,  Georges  de,  Bishop  of  Lavaur 
and  diplomatist,  i  7  ;  sells  his  collec- 
tion of  Greek  MSS.  to  Francis  I,  18  ; 
his  translation  of  some  of  Plutarch's 
lives,  36 

Semblancay,  see  Beaune 

Seneca,  Grosnet's  paraphrase  of  his 
tragedies,  i  39  ;  imitated  by  Du 
Bartas,  ii  41  ;  characteristics  of  his 
plays,  74  ;  his  influence  on  French 
tragedy,  74-75,  76,  85,   87,   90,  91, 

92,  93 

Seralino  of  Aquila,  Italian  poet,  i  140 

Series,  Jean  de,  letter  from  Pasquier  to, 
i  302  ;  his  history  of  France,  ii  223, 
n.  3 ;  not  the  author  of  the  Discours 
merveilleux,  230 

Olivier   de,  his    Theatre  d'Agri- 

culture,  ii  287-8 

Servin,  Louis,  a  friend  of  Pasquier,  i  303 

Sevin,  Adrien,  his  translation  of  Boc- 
caccio's Filocopo,  i  45 

Sextus  Empiricus,  Montaigne's  debt  to, 
ii  167 

Seyssel,  Claude  de,  his  translations  of 
Greek  historians,  i  36 

Shakespeare,  Twelfth  Night,  ii  104 ; 
influence  of  Montaigne  on,  160 
n.  1  ;  Hamlet  and  Measure  for 
Measure,   id.  ;    Tempest,   314 

Shirley,  James,  his  Love's  cruelty,  i 
1 12 

Sibilet,  Thomas,  his  definition  of  a 
blazon,  i  89;  his  Artpoetique  Francois, 
152  ;  his  answer  to  the  Deffence,  316 

Silly,  Mme  de,  a  devisante  of  the  Hepta- 
meron,  i  108 

Silvius,  Symon,  see  I.a  Have 

Simeoni,  Gabriele,  i  271 

Sophocles,  translation  of  his  Electra  by 
L.  de  Baif,  i  37;  and  of  his  Antigone 
by  J. -A.  de  Baif,  ii  7 

Speroni,  Sperone,  his  Canace,  ii  75 

Strozzi,  Ercole,  neo- Latin  poet,  i  147 

Filippo,  a  friend  of  BrantSme,  ii 

192 

Piero,  father  of  Filippo,  his  library, 

»  275 
Tito-Vespasiano,  father  of  Ercole, 

neo-Latin  poet,  i  147 
Sturm,  John,  letter  to  Jean  du   Bellay 

about  Rabelais,  i  179;  and  see  i  22 
Sully,  Maximilien  de  Bethune,  Due  de, 

his  visit  to  Montaigne's  chateau,  ii  147; 

his  memoirs,  212    215 
Susanneau,  Hubert,  i  182 
Sylvester,  Joshua,  his  translation  of  Du 

Bartas,  ii  38 
Sylvius,  see  Dubois 
Syrus,  Publilius,  his  Sentential,  ii  7 


Tabourot,  Estienne,  his  writings,  ii  183  ; 
reference  to  his   Bigarrures,   i    190, 

259-  3°2 
Tacitus,   influence   of,  on   D'Aubigne, 

translation    of    his    Annals,    i    39, 

ii   254 
Tahureau,  Jacques,  his  poetry,  ii  15-16  ; 

his  pessimistic  vein.  1 7;  his  Dialogues, 

i.S;  his  epigram  on  Rabelais,  i  [8? 
Tardif,  Guillaume,  his  version  of  Valla's 

Facetiae   morales,    i  40;    of    Poggio's 

Facetiae,  98 
Tartas,  Jean  de,  principal  of  the  College 

of   Lisieux    at    Paris,    i    17;    of   the 

College  of  Guienne  at  Bordeaux,  i/>., 

21 
Tasso,  Bernardo,  his  residence  in  France. 

i  43 
Tasso,    Torquato,    translations    of    his 

Aminta,  anil  his  influence  on  French 

pastoral  drama,  ii  116;  his  influence 

on  Bertaut,  270 
Tavannes,  see  Saulx 
Tebaldeo,  Antonio,  imitated  by  Tyard, 

ii  1  ;  by  Desportes,  48 
Terence,  translation  of  his  Andria  by 

Ch.  Estienne,  i  39;  of  his  Eunuchus 

and   Heautontimoroumenos   by  J. -A. 

de  Baif,   ii   7,   10S  ;   his  influence  on 

Renaissance  comedy,   102 
Teresa,    St,    her    writings    popular    in 

France,  ii  302 
Thevet,  Andre,  i  149,  ii  332 
Thomas,   Hubert,  of   Liege  (Leodius), 

his  report  of  Francis  ['s  conversation, 

i  5 
Thou,  Christophe  de,  ii  281-282 

Jacques    Auguste   de,    his    Latin 

history,   ii  221-222 
Thucydides,  translation  of,  i  36 
Tiraqueau,  Andre,  jurist,  i  165,  167,  169, 

1S2 

Tolet,  Pierre,  a  physician  at  Lyons,  i  24 

Tory,  GeofFroy,   studies   in    Italy,   1  32  ; 

a   professor  at    Paris,   ib.\   becomes   a 

bookseller  and  a  woodcutter,  //'. ;  his 

Champ  Jtcury,    il>.  ;    his    reforms    in 

orthography,  33;   his  translations  o( 

(Ireek   writings,   36;    and   see    [85 

Toulouse,    ils    poetical    school,     i    69; 

University  of,   22,   272 
Toumon,  Francoisde,  <  lardinal,  mir 
of  Francis    I,    Governor   of    Lyons, 
i  24:  his  patronage  ol  men  ol  letters, 
ib.;  an  Italian  scholar,  44;  compels 
Marot  to  make  a  public  recantation 

of  heresy,   67 

Toms,   Pierre  de,    Lyon,   printei    and 

publisher,  i   177 
Toussain,  Jacques,  royal   profes  "i    "l 


360 


INDEX 


Greek,  i  16 ;  his  death  and  the 
character  of  his  learning,  280 ; 
tutor  to  J. -A.  de  Baif,  ii  5 

Toutain,  Charles,  a  member  of  the 
Poitiers  circle,  ii  18;  his  imitation 
of  Seneca's  Agamemnon,   76 

Tragi -comedy,  ii  97-99 

Trepperel,  Jean,  Paris  printer,  i  98 
n.  2  ;   his  widow,  ib. 

Trissino,  Giangiorgio,  his  Sofonisba, 
ii  75  ;  a  translation  by  Saint-Gelais 
performed  at  Blois,  ib. 

Tristan,  i  156,  157  n.  1 

Trivulce,  Pompone  de,  Governor  of 
Lyons,  i  24 

Turnebe,  Adrien  (Turnebus),  his  repu- 
tation as  a  lecturer,  i  274;  his  rank 
as  a  classical  scholar,  281  ;  his 
editions  of  /Eschylus  and  Sophocles 
and  his  Adversaria,  ib. 

Odet    de,    his    Les    Contents,    ii 

1 1  r 

Turpi  11,  i  158 

Turquet,  Jean,  i  188 

Turrin,  Claude,  his  poems  in  imitation 

of  Du  Bellay's  Regrets,  i  346 
Tyard,    Pontus  de,    his    claim   to  have 

popularised   the    sonnet    in    France, 

i  341 ;  his  poetry,  ii  1,  1 

Ulenspiegel,  i  99,  200 

Valentin  el  Orson,  i  157  n.  1 
Valla,  his  Facetiae  morales,  i  40 
Vatable,    Francois,   royal    professor    of 

Hebrew,  i   16;  his  death,   280;  and 

see  225 
Vaugelas,  his  praise  of  Amyot,  i  288 
Vauquelin    de    la    Fresnaye,    Jean,    a 

member  of  the  Poitiers  circle,  ii  18; 

his  Forcsteries,  62 ;  his  public  life,  ib. ; 

characteristics  of  his  poetry,  63-64; 

his  satires,  65,  296;  his  Art  poe/ique, 

65-66;  and  see  i  190 
Vauzelles,  George  de,  i  24 

Jean  de,  ib. 

Matthieu  de,  ib. 

Vergecio,  Angelo,  copyist  of  Greek 
mss.,  enters  the  service  of  Francis  I, 
i  18;  makes  a  list  of  the  Greek  mss. 
at  Fontainebleau,  ib. 
Vers  mesures,  experiments  in,  ii  8 
Versoris,  Pierre,  his  speech  on  behalf  of 
the  Jesuits,  ii  282 


Vesalius,  Andreas,  begins  his  studies  at 

Montpellier,  i  22;  his  account  of  the 

study  of  anatomy  at  Paris,  176 
Vieilleville,     Francois     de     Scepeaux, 

Marshal    de,   his    memoirs,    ii  210- 

211 
Vienne,  Philibert  de,  i  48 
Vigneulles,  Philippe  de,  his  unpublished 

collection  of  stories,  i  100 
Vignier,  Nicolas,  historian,  ii  223 
Yignola,  Giacomo  Barozzoda,  architect, 

invited  to  France  by  Francis  I,  i  6 
Villers-Cotterets,     chateau    of,     i     13; 

edict  of,   30 
Villon,  Francois,  i  55,  64,  72,  78,  198 
Vincent,    Jacques,    his    translation    of 

Boiardo,  i  46 ;  of  Palmerin  de  Ingla- 

terra  and  Flores  y  Blancajior,  162 
Vinci,    Leonardo    da,    at    the    French 

court,  i  6 
Yinciguerra,  Marcantonio,  the  creator  of 

satire,  proper  in  Italy,  ii  293 
Yinet,  Elie,  joint-author  of  the  Discours 

non    plus    melancoliques   que   divers, 

i   261 
Vintimille,  Jacques  de,  translator  of  the 

Cyropaedia,  i  24,  36 
Violier  des  histoires  romaines,  the,  i  99, 

100 
Viret,    Pierre,    Calvin's   dedication  to, 

i  233;  his  writings,  235;  his  use  of 

the  dialogue  form,  /'/'.;  and  see  254 
Virgil,   translations  of,  i  38;    Ronsard 

and,  324  ;  imitation  of  by  Uu  Bartas, 

ii  41 
Vitry,  Jacques  de,  Bishop  of  Acre,  i  96 
Philippe   de,  Bishop  of  Meaux, 

Vivonne,  Anne  de,  mother  of  Brantome, 
a  devisante  of  the  Heptameron,  i   108 

Voiture,  Vincent,  i  151 

Voulte,  Jean,  or  Visagier,  called 
Vulteius,   Latin  poet,  i  26,   182 

Wechel,  Chrestien,  Paris    printer    and 

publisher,   i    1 78 
YYingle,  Pierre,  printer  of  the  Protestant 

Bible,  i  41 
YVolmar,      Melchior,     teaches     Calvin 

Greek,  i  225 

Xenophon,  translations  of,  i  36 
Yver,  see  Iver 


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